Tui flight from Zante to Cardiff full of 'Covidiots', says passenger

A Tui flight from Zante to Cardiff on which almost 200 passengers and crew were told to self-isolate after coronavirus cases were confirmed was full of "Covidiots", a passenger has said.

There are now 16 Covid-19 infections linked to flight TOM6215, Public Health Wales (PHW) has announced, and the airline has launched a "full investigation" into claims that passengers on board were not wearing masks correctly and seemed to "disregard the rules".

All 193 people on the flight have now been told to self-isolate.

Stephanie Whitfield, who was on board the August 25 flight, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Many passengers didn't seem to know how to wear the masks correctly or they seemed to just disregard the rules really.

"Lots of the people were wearing the masks underneath their noses or even underneath their chins.

"They were taking the masks off to talk to friends and they were going up and down the aisles to talk to their friends without their masks on."

Passengers are informed prior to travel and via PA announcement on the flight that they have to wear masks throughout and that they are not allowed to move around the cabin, a spokesperson from Tui said, and masks can only be removed when consuming food and drink.

Asked about how the crew dealt with passengers not following the rules, Ms Whitfield said she noticed a crew member ask one woman to put her mask on.

"This flight was a debacle. The chap next to me had his mask around his neck. Not only did the airline not pull him up on it, they gave him a free drink when he said he knew a member of the crew," Ms Whitfield said, adding that "the vast majority" of people breaking the rules "weren't being spoken to".

"As soon as the flight landed, a load of people took their masks off immediately. The flight was full of selfish 'covidiots' and an inept crew who couldn't care less," she said.

Commenting on whether she was surprised to hear about the cases following the flight, she said: "No, we weren't surprised at all."

Before arriving back in Cardiff, she and her husband decided to self isolate, and have been doing so since before the news about the flight emerged.

She said they have mild symptoms and are hoping they just have a cold, but are taking a test on Tuesday.

Dr Giri Shankar, PHW's Covid-19 incident director, told BBC Breakfast that public health officials initially identified seven people who had tested positive and were potentially infectious on the flight.

He said since they began alerting passengers, the number of confirmed cases has risen to 16, but it was unclear where they had contracted the virus.

It comes as Dr Gwen Lowe, consultant in communicable disease control for Public Health Wales, said there have been about 30 cases in Wales in the last week that have come back from Zante, confirmed in people who were on different flights and staying in different locations.

Greece has imposed new travel restrictions on the popular party island, and the Foreign Office has updated its advice for travel to Greece, adding information about local restrictions in Paros, Antiparos and Zante – including the suspension of live events, a ban on gatherings of nine or more people, and a limit of four people per table at restaurants.

Asked about whether airlines should be more proactive about telling people to wear masks, Dr Lowe said wearing face coverings "may help" but pointed out that they are an "informal measure", adding that it is difficult for airlines to police.

"If somebody is determined not to wear a mask, people often don't know how to wear masks properly, they touch them a lot, they wear them below their nose, they take them off to eat," she said.

"And if you've got Covid symptoms, that will spread Covid symptoms quite rapidly through a confined space such as aircraft."

A spokeswoman for Tui said: "The health and safety of passengers is always our priority and we are concerned to hear of Mrs Whitfield’s claims.

"Our crew are trained to the highest standards and in line with European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) guidelines.

"Passengers are informed prior to travel and via PA announcements on the flight that they have to wear masks throughout and are not allowed to move around the cabin. Masks can only be removed when consuming food and drink. A full investigation is now underway as these concerns weren’t reported during the flight or before today."