“Aggressive” and “disgraceful” behaviour by a stag party led to a Jet2.com flight to Ibiza being diverted to Toulouse in France.
Cabin crew had repeatedly warned members of the group, which boarded at Birmingham on Friday, before making the decision – having already stopped selling alcohol on board as one member of the group was refused boarding “for being drunk and aggressive”.
Police were waiting for the group as the aircraft landed in Toulouse, and offloaded the offenders.
The behaviour unfolded in front of families travelling with young children.
A spokesman for Jet2.com said the group had continued to drink “illicitly” once sales of alcohol were prohibited onboard.
The airline has an ongoing Onboard Together campaign calling for action to better control the sale and consumption of alcohol and tax free goods at airports.
Phil Ward, Jet2.com’s managing director, said: “A large number of individuals from this group have left a stag weekend in ruins, and have subjected our crew and customers to a continued pattern of disgraceful and aggressive behaviour. This left some of our highly-trained cabin crew extremely upset, and the captain had no choice but to divert the aircraft so police could offload the group. Fellow customers and families travelling for a well-earned holiday should not be subjected to this behaviour and we will now be taking further action in support of our crew to ensure that those responsible are held accountable for their actions.
“This is the second time that disruptive passenger behaviour has caused one of our flights to be diverted in just a few weeks, so enough is enough. Proper measures need putting in place by the industry and government to ensure that our crew and customers can fly in a safe, trouble-free environment. As a family friendly airline flying millions of people on holiday every year, we are demanding that proper action is taken to protect our crew and customers from this appalling behaviour.”