Four women were removed from a flight to Ibiza for allegedly making racist abuse and threats at other passengers.
Police escorted the women off the Monarch flight before take off at Manchester airport on Tuesday evening after receiving complaints from passengers and the captain.
Four groups of passengers reportedly asked flight attendants if they could switch seats in order to get away from the women, who were believed to be between 20 and 25 years old.
“I think their behaviour was disgusting, everyone on the way to Ibiza gets merry and loud but it’s usually just fun banter,” one of the abused passengers, Amber Elouise Ferguson, told the Manchester Evening News.
“They took it to a whole other level by using extremely racist words and threatening people. They caused nothing but trouble and verbally abused everyone in their path. It’s unacceptable, childish, uneducated behaviour. The girls should be utterly ashamed and disgusted with themselves.”
“It could have ended up being a very dangerous flight.”
She posted pictures of the women on Facebook and implied the women were drunk.
“When my friends asked to move seats they started shouting abuse at them,” she told the newspaper.
“We heard them say they would wait until the seat belt signs went off and then start fighting with all the passengers who had asked them to be quiet.
“They told me ‘you don’t know who you are dealing with and you’ll get dealt with’.
“I’d love to be reunited with them and see if they are as brave without alcohol.”
A Greater Manchester Police spokesman confirmed they were called to the incident.
A Monarch spokesman confirmed four passengers were removed from the flight, operated by Latvian carrier SmartLynx, with 158 passengers on board.
He added: “Monarch takes a zero tolerance approach to disruptive behaviour on board all of our flights. The safety and security of our passengers, crew and aircraft is our absolute priority.”
The incident comes as the government considers whether airline passengers should be barred from drinking too much before they fly.