Motherwell man banned from Jet2 for life after 'attacking airline staff and passengers'

A man from Motherwell has been banned from Jet2 services for life after his “appalling and violent” behaviour caused a flight from Glasgow to be diverted.

The 20-year-old man was removed from the flight on Wednesday, June 12, and taken into police custody.

The airline said the passenger began to show disruptive and aggressive behaviour shortly after take-off before he allegedly physically attacked airline staff as well as other customers.

Jet2 bosses have described the incident as “one of the worst cases of disruptive passenger behaviour that we have ever witnessed”.

Garda officers offloaded the man at Shannon Airport following the diversion.

The airline said they have banned the man for life and will be pursuing him for the costs of the incident which they say will be a five-figure sum.

Phil Ward, managing director of Jet2.com, said: “This is one of the worst cases of disruptive passenger behaviour that we have ever witnessed, and we would like to apologise to all colleagues and customers onboard for what they had to experience.

“It is a disgrace that hardworking customers, families and colleagues should be subjected to such appalling behaviour and we will vigorously pursue [the man] for all the costs that we incurred as a result of this diversion, as well as banning him for life.”

He added: “We would also like to thank customers and colleagues who helped deal with [the man] onboard, as well as Garda for their assistance in offloading him. We will support them fully with their investigations and [the man] should be prepared to face severe consequences for his actions.

“This event should act as a stark warning to anyone who thinks that it might be acceptable to behave in such an unacceptable manner onboard one of our flights. Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of customers enjoy their flights and continue to have a lovely holiday, and we will continue to work hard to provide our VIP customer service as always.”