VIDEO: Passengers cheer as ‘disgraceful lout’ is kicked off Jet2 flight to Tenerife

An Edinburgh to Tenerife flight was forced to make a diversion to Portugal on Friday after a 'disgraceful' passenger was seen vaping onboard and acting disruptively. The Jet2 flight, LS727, had taken off from Edinburgh Airport at 8.15am and was due to travel directly to Tenerife South Airport.

However, flightradar24 showed the plane was forced to divert to Porto Santo airport in Madeira so the passenger could be removed by police.  

A video has since surfaced from the flight that shows a man dressed in all black with a bag strap slung across his chest, reportedly under the influence of alcohol stumbling in the aisle of the plane while being addressed by cabin crew.

Another clip of the incident shows around Portuguese officials boarding the plane and escorting the man off of the aircraft as the other passengers clapped, cheered, and sang 'cheerio'.

According to reports by Edinburgh Live, one eye-witness said “The man was acting like a f***y and was vaping as soon as we took off.” Another added: “Later he was stumbling down the aisle. He looked utterly wasted.” One more passenger on the flight commented: “What a start to our holiday! Jet2 staff handled the situation very well.”

Allegedly the man in question continued to walk up and down the aisle during the landing in Madeira, threatening the staff, before being arrested once the plane was on the tarmac.

Another eyewitness told Edinburgh Evening News that the passengers on board the flight were “terrified of the abusive behaviour of the man on board, who was walking drunkenly up and down the aisles as flight staff were unable to control him, threatening anyone who went near him,” she added.

“At one point, he touched an air stewardess inappropriately and that was the last straw. Fortunately, the police were waiting to arrest him when the fight landed.”

A spokesperson for Jet2 issued a statement following the ordeal saying that their “colleagues and customers should never be treated in this way.” They confirmed that: “Flight LS727 from Edinburgh to Tenerife was diverted to Porto Santo on Friday so that police could offload a disruptive passenger. The passenger in question behaved in a disgraceful fashion, and as a family-friendly airline, we take a zero-tolerance approach to such behaviour.  We would like to thank our crew for the way they dealt with this difficult situation and we will fully support the authorities with any subsequent investigation and will not hesitate to recover any losses incurred as a result of this divert. We are pleased to say that the flight continued to Tenerife and we wish everyone onboard a lovely holiday.”

The spokesperson added that the man has now been banned from flying with Jet2 for life following the incident.