Disruptive Passenger Causes Jet2 Flight to Return … Escorted by Air Force

There are demanding passengers. Then there are self-entitled and rude passengers. There are those who sneak into business-class while holding economy tickets. Then there are those who forget things (or people) at the airport.

However, there is an emerging category of unruly passengers. Those who threaten to ‘hijack’ and harm other passengers. A few days earlier, one such passenger was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in India.

Now, in a shocking incident, a disruptive passenger caused a major security scare on a Jet2 flight travelling from Stansted, London to Dalaman, Turkey.

The Incident

Details are quite scant at this point. This is what we know.

The flight, LS1503 was airborne and about 30-45 minutes in its journey. The accused person – a 25 year old woman – was called to the front of the aircraft. It is not clear on why this was done. Perhaps, she was inebriated and causing inconvenience to her co-passengers.

On being called, she had an argument with crew and a major meltdown. It is reported that she had physically assaulted some members of the crew when they tried to restrain her. That itself would land you in jail in most countries. However, what happened subsequently was worse.

As per one of her co-passengers, the accused kept singing songs and threatened to kill them. Naturally, the flight turned back to Stansted airport. Further, a couple of RAF jets were scrambled and escorted the Jet2 flight. Below is the flight path of LS1503 (source: FlightRadar24)

The accused was arrested on arrival. However, the story does not end here.

The RAF jets caused a ‘sonic boom‘. Residents reported feeling their houses “shaking” after a “loud explosion” that was heard in Harlow, Epping, Chelmsford and Stansted. This led to a large number of 999 calls.

Large number of 999 calls coming in about a loud explosion. We have liaised with @EssexPoliceUK who are confirming that this is a sonic boom from a passing aircraft.

— East Herts Police (@EastHertsPolice) June 22, 2019