THOMAS Cook has apologised to passengers on a Glasgow to Larnaca flight over the drunken and disorderly behavior of fellow passengers who made the journey miserable for all on board.
The drunken British tourists who rained havoc aboard a Thomas Cook flight were in the end met by Cyprus police on arrival at Larnaca.
Flight TCX3012 departed from Glasgow to Larnaca on Wednesday July 27 and according to some of the distraught passengers, groups of drunken people, mostly men, made the trip the flight from hell.
One passenger said: “I overheard the captain saying that in all his flying years he had never experienced anything quite like it.”
According to passengers who have lodged complaints with the tour operator, the partygoers kept chanting “Ayia, Ayia Ayia f**ing Napa”.
Passengers say the drinking started in Glasgow airport and many were drunk before boarding.
A Thomas Cook UK and Ireland spokesperson told the Cyprus Mail: “After speaking with the staff concerned with this flight, it wasn’t apparent to either the gate or boarding crew that these passengers were intoxicated. They boarded in the usual buoyant holiday mood.”
She continued: “We operate a zero tolerance policy towards disorderly behaviour and drunk passengers are not permitted to board our aircraft. I can confirm that local police met the plane on arrival in Larnaca. “We would like to apologise to passengers for the disturbance.”
Thomas Cook says that the captain and crew took the necessary actions to manage the situation including confiscating duty-free purchases and moving upset passengers. Thomas Cook staff also noted the identity of the disruptive passengers.
“Before their return flight, the passengers who were being disruptive will be issued with an Additional Conditions of Carriage notice setting out conditions which they must meet before they will be allowed to board the plane. If they do not meet certain criteria, we are not obliged to take them,” she said.”
The spokesperson added: “As I understand it, the trouble began about two hours into the flight and cabin crew refused to serve the disorderly passengers with any further alcoholic beverages.”
But one passenger said the cabin crew had lost control of the situation and the Captain was forced to come out of the cockpit on a number of occasions.
Another man said: “They did stop selling this bunch alcohol but they appeared to have some with them and so the drinking continued. I have never seen anything like it; I was embarrassed to be British. You hear about this kind of behaviour, but it’s another thing entirely to have to experience it.”
According to eyewitnesses, the unruly bunch left urine and vomit all over the aircraft toilets and at least one drunken man fell over in the aisle.
