A group of four removed from a flight after it landed in Turkey after being accused of “playing a song about bombs” claimed they were ejected from the aircraft because they are “bearded Asians”.
The Thomas Cook airlines crew ordered passengers to sit back in their seats after the aircraft had arrived at the terminal and four armed Turkish police officers boarded and removed Nabeal Iqbal, 19, Hammad Ahmed, 21, both dentistry students, warehouse manager Shabad Niaz, 23, and A-level student Tasiq Ali, 18.
They were accused of being “extremely disruptive” and playing a song that used the word “bomb” several times on a mobile device during the service from Manchester to Dalaman.
But they deny the allegations and say they are “embarrassed” at what happened, MailOnline reported.
The airline said the four had been “extremely disruptive throughout this flight” and that one of them upset other passengers by repeatedly playing an audio track on a mobile in which the word ‘bomb’ was used several times.
Iqbal denied the allegation and said: “At the front the cabin crew manager accused us of saying the word ‘bomb’ and taking a bag with a bomb into the toilet and leaving it there.
“We know we didn’t say bomb and we didn’t have a bomb. It was embarrassing. I would never say anything like that on an airplane.
“It’s always in the news, people getting escorted off planes after 9/11. It’s best not to joke about anything like that on a plane. It was a really embarrassing experience. I just don’t think we were treated fairly at all.”
A Thomas Cook Airlines spokesman said: “Four individuals were extremely disruptive throughout this flight and were refused carriage on the basis of their abusive behaviour.
“We do not tolerate such severely disruptive behaviour towards our crew or passengers and their collective and sustained actions were entirely unacceptable.”
After being barred from the return flight on September 30, they each paid £125 to fly back to Manchester with Pegasus Airlines.