Jet2 kicked a grandmother off of a flight after she refused to pay £9 for an ‘inedible’ tuna sandwich after she claimed it was “soggy” and “cold”.
Lily Ifield, 79, who was flying from London Stansted Airport to Bodrum in Turkey, was appalled when cabin crew reportedly snapped back, “this isn’t a restaurant – it’s a plane”, before summoning armed officers.
She was removed from the aircraft alongside her daughter on Sunday, November 3.
The retired secretary, who had been on a four-day holiday for a family member’s birthday, said: “The police were standing at the entrance to the plane, waiting with guns like we were master criminals. We had no idea what we had done. I was turning round to people, saying ‘I think I’ve been arrested over a sandwich.'”
At one point a steward aggressively told her to stop talking, she said: “The steward said, ‘will you shut up’ he said, ‘I don’t want you talking’. I said ‘excuse me, I can talk as much as I like’. We were being treated like convicts over a bap.”
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Jet2 has accused passengers of “disruptive and unpleasant behaviour” on a flight, leading to police intervention. Despite being escorted through the airport by officers, Lily and her daughter’s case was dropped after authorities deemed “how stupid the argument was”, reports the Mirror.
Lily, from Ware, Hertfordshire, said: “We were so upset we just stayed in our room for four days. We felt sick with worry. It ruined our holiday. All over a flipping tuna sandwich. No-one would have eaten that.”
The anxious fliers had consumed four mini bottles of wine during their flight to alleviate stress, spending £50, but refused to pay for a tuna sandwich, as per The Sun’s report. Lily refutes Jet2‘s allegations of sneaking alcohol onboard.
The Mirror has reached out to Jet2 for further details and a statement regarding Lily’s complaint. A spokeswoman for Jet2 told The Sun: “We can confirm that these customers displayed continued disruptive and unpleasant behaviour on board flight LS1609 from London Stansted to Bodrum, including the illicit consumption of alcohol that had been purchased in duty free and brought on board.”
She added: “As a result, police met the aircraft on arrival at Bodrum to escort Mrs Ifield and her daughter off the aircraft. As a family-friendly airline, we take a zero-tolerance approach to such behaviour, and we make it very clear that customers cannot consume their own alcohol on flights.
“We will always support our crew in instances when they are subjected to disruptive, rude or unpleasant behaviour while prioritising the comfort of all customers and crew so that they can enjoy their flight.”
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