Ryanair flight from hell diverts after brawl breaks out over seat switching

A Ryanair flight bound for London had to make an unexpected detour to Marrakech last week following a heated dispute over seat swapping that turned into a violent fracas mid-flight.

The incident occurred on flight RUK3034, which departed from Agadir in Morocco heading to London Stansted on Wednesday July 3, when a disagreement about seating arrangements spiralled out of control, reports Dublin Live. The trouble began even before the aircraft left the ground, with a man in his late twenties asking a woman to exchange seats so he could be next to his wife and children.

According to reports, the man threatened the woman, who was seated with her daughter and declined to move. Once airborne, the situation intensified as the woman's husband got involved to defend her, culminating in a physical confrontation.

Social media was abuzz with video clips showing passengers embroiled in a chaotic scene, shouting and exchanging blows in the aisle while the flight crew tried to calm the situation.

One passenger recounted the ordeal to The Sun, saying: "It was like the flight from hell. And it all escalated from that one passenger wanting to change seats.

"They were trying to punch each other. One of the families was part of a larger group so other passengers started to join in."

In the thick of the chaos, another traveller on the aircraft took ill and required oxygen mid-journey. The 36-year-old said: "A lady in the row behind started to have a panic attack because of everything going on. She was screaming and there were kids crying.

"It was like a snowball effect. It all escalated from that one passenger wanting to change seats."

As tensions mounted, the flight crew made the decision to divert to Marrakesh in order to offload the "disruptive" passengers. Upon landing, Moroccan authorities boarded the plane and escorted nine individuals off.

The unwell passenger received medical attention on the plane; however, they were deemed unfit to continue flying and subsequently became aggressive towards the cabin staff, resulting in their ejection from the flight. Ryanair said the process of treating and removing the passengers upon arrival in Marrakesh took nearly two hours, by which time the crew had exceeded their legal flying hours, causing further delays.

Those affected by the disruption were offered overnight accommodation, with the flight finally making its way to London the next day. A representative for Ryanair confirmed a "small group of passengers became disruptive" necessitating their removal, as the airline extended its apologies to those inconvenienced by the diversion.

A spokesperson added: "This flight from Agadir to London Stansted (July 3) diverted to Marrakech after a small group of passengers became disruptive, and during which time another passenger became ill onboard. Crew called ahead for both medical and police assistance, which met the aircraft upon arrival at Marrakech.

"The small group of disruptive passengers were then removed from the aircraft by airport gendarmerie. The passenger who became ill was provided with oxygen onboard before being treated by airport medics, who determined that they were not fit-to-fly.

"This passenger refused to disembark and became abusive towards crew and was also removed from the aircraft by airport gendarmerie. As it took almost 2 hours in total to treat and offload these disruptive passengers, the crew reached their permitted flying hours and the flight was delayed overnight.

"Affected passengers were provided with overnight accommodation and transport to/from the airport. This flight departed to London the following day (4 July). We sincerely apologise to passengers for this diversion and subsequent delay caused by a small group of disruptive passengers, which was out of Ryanair's control."

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