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A passenger who claimed to be a United Nations diplomat was forcibly removed from a Ryanair flight by police following a heated row with flight attendants.
The irate man refused to cooperate with crew, show his boarding pass or move to a different seat after demanding to be relocated to the front row of the plane, reported Canarian Weekly.
Ryanair flight FR2001 from Arrecife airport in Lanzarote to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, was due to depart at 8pm on Friday (17 January).
After a tense exchange, the pilot ordered that the disruptive passenger taken off the flight and called the Guardia Civil to forcibly remove the man from the Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
Video footage from inside the cabin shows the man being wrestled from his seat by four police officers as frustrated passengers look on.
According to data from FlightAware, passengers on board faced a 40-minute delay to their departure for Rosalía de Castro airport, landing almost an hour behind schedule at 11.44pm.
The airline said that local police are now investigating the incident.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said in a statement to MailOnline: “The crew of this flight from Lanzarote to Santiago (17 Jan) called for police assistance prior to departure after a passenger became disruptive on board.
“This passenger was removed before this flight continued to Santiago.
“Ryanair is committed to ensuring that all passengers and crew travel in a safe and respectful environment, without unnecessary disruption caused by a tiny number of unruly passengers.
“Ryanair has a strict zero-tolerance policy towards passenger misconduct and will continue to take decisive action to combat unruly passenger behaviour on aircraft for the benefit of the vast majority of passengers who do not disrupt flights. This is a matter for local police.”
Earlier this month, Ryanair announced that it is taking legal action against passengers who behave disruptively on flights in a major misconduct clampdown.
The Irish airline is claiming €15,000 (£12,500) in damages against a disruptive passenger after their “inexcusable behaviour” forced a flight to divert.
Instead, flight FR7124 from Dublin to Lanzarote landed in Porto, Portugal on 9 April 2024 as a result of the passenger’s unruly conduct in the cabin.
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast
