A woman said she was harassed on the flight and claimed two people were having sex in the toilet ‘to cheers’ from other passengers
A Ryanair flight bound for Ibiza transcended into a nightmare, according to one passenger, who said there were two groups who became ‘inebriated’ and disruptive, with some even allegedly having sex in the toilet.
A woman who has travelled to the Spanish holiday hotspot for 45 years said she has been on some rowdy flights before – but none like this one.
She recalled the horrifying journey all started before the plane had even taken off, as she noted two groups of people “making a lot of noise” and who “appeared to be inebriated” at the departure gates at Dublin Airport last week.
As she boarded the plane, she said she raised her concerns, but felt they were not taken seriously by staff, reports Dublin Live. By the time the plane was in the air, things took a dramatic turn involving two groups of people.
“It really started at the departure gate,” she told the outlet. “We arrived at the departure gate, and there were two groups of people that I was concerned about.
“They were making an awful lot of noise. They appeared to be inebriated and, given what Michael O’Leary had stated about not tolerating inebriated passengers on their flights, as I was about to board the plane, I brought the attention of a female member of the ground crew.
“She didn’t feel happy that I was concerned about this.” A further complication at the gate almost prevented her husband from boarding the plane.
But, once on board, the situation deteriorated rapidly. She described two distinct groups causing chaos on the flight: one group of young men, and another slightly older, mixed-gender group.
The younger group, she said, “were all, I would say, 22 to 24, they were all male”. She said the stewards on board the flight continued to serve people in both groups alcohol, despite warning them about their behaviour.
Other passengers were getting visibly distressed, according to the passenger. “The younger group was warned by the steward about the consequences of misbehaviour, but they continued to play music and drink,” she told Newstalk on Monday.
“There was a young girl who was shaking from head to toe, and there was another lady who was just very agitated because the noise was just overwhelming.”
A shirtless man and a young woman allegedly went into a bathroom together, and remained inside for about ten minutes.
Upon their exit to cheers from the two groups, a male flight steward inspected the room – and then returned with supplies to clean up what had been left behind. She told host Andrea Gilligan: “There was a young girl saying that she could organise hookups with people on the flight, if they wanted.
“And at one point, a shirtless young guy, just in a pair of shorts, and a girl went into the toilet, and they came out about 10 minutes later. The steward opened the toilet door after they exited it.
“And whatever he saw, he then went and got a large bag of wet wipes.” The woman then said a young man in a seat in front of her, who was verbally propositioning passengers, pointed at her and shouted: ‘I want her’.
She said: “He got up out of his seat and he pointed at me and he said, ‘I want her’. At which point, my new friend Paul [a man sitting beside her on the flight] intervened.
“And I said to him: ‘You need to be very, very careful, that man on the other side of the aisle is my husband’. My husband had both earplugs and headphones on, and his eyes closed.
“I said to him: ‘You need to remove yourself from this, because my husband is getting very worked up by the noise and shouting and people jumping over seats and all the rest of it’. And it was only at that point that the young man realised that I wasn’t a middle-aged woman on my own.
“Thank God my husband didn’t hear it, because it could have been an unpleasant situation if my husband had heard, basically, a young man on a Ryanair flight sexually harassing me.”
On arrival at Ibiza Airport, the aircraft was met by emergency services. Paramedics boarded the plane and removed at least one passenger who appeared unwell, while members of the problematic groups were interviewed by police.
She said: “When the flight landed, the steward said: ‘Everyone, stay in your seats. The paramedics and the police are coming to the flight’.
“The young guy who had been shirtless, who was in the toilet with the girl, he was carried off the flight by paramedics. Two people from the group further down the flight were asked to go with the police.” And in the aftermath, an elderly woman’s bag was misplaced – which then lead to further distress on their hot bus transfer.
The woman continued: “There was an elderly woman whose bag was misplaced. Now, it turned out that the stewards had put it in with their bags, or at least that’s what was said to us on the bus.
“People were asked by any chance had they taken her bag. One of the people who had been interviewed by the police decided that it was being implied he’d stolen her bag, but when her bag was found and he had boarded the bus, we were all already on the bus again.
“It was stinking hot, you know. You’re talking 30, 33 degrees, and people are tired and stressed and upset. And a man starts hurling abuse at this elderly woman that she was accusing of stealing his bag, which she wasn’t.
“She just wanted to get her bag back. At which point, a very big Spanish police officer boarded the bus, prodded him in the chest, and shouted at him: ‘No trouble in Spain’.
“At that point, he got off the bus. The door was closed, and finally, we got to the terminal, and we got out of there as quickly as we could.”
She said her husband was “furious” when she told him she’d been “propositioned by somebody who was certainly young enough to be my son.”
A statement from Ryanair to Newstalk said that two passengers on the flight were refused bar service on board, but continued to drink their own pre-bought alcohol, despite warnings from the crew. They said: “Crew on this flight from Dublin to Ibiza called ahead for police assistance after two passengers became disruptive inflight.
“Due to their misbehaviour, crew refrained from serving these passengers alcohol from the bar, however, despite several warnings from crew, they continued to drink their own alcohol purchased pre-flight. Police met the aircraft upon landing at Ibiza Airport and these two disruptive passengers were removed.
“Ryanair has a strict zero tolerance policy towards passenger misconduct and will continue to take decisive action to combat unruly passenger behaviour, ensuring that all passengers and crew travel in a respectful and stress-free environment, without unnecessary disruption.”
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