An EasyJet passenger has said she and her brother were left feeling 'deeply humiliated' as they were escorted off a plane after asking where they should put their luggage.
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School teacher Zoe filmed the moment a member of staff declared that he would be 'removing' her and her brother, who has Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, from the plane after they boarded a flight to Seville in August, explaining he would need their passports to identify them.
Zoe told LADbible she and her brother had priority boarding for the easyJet flight, but missed their early entrance because they were in the bathroom. Their seats were located at the front of the plane, but by the time they got on board there was no space left for them to put their bags.
Upon asking the flight attendant, identified by the pseudonym 'David', where they should put their bags, he allegedly responded: "I’m not in charge of luggage, you’re going to have to find your own space to put your bags.”
Zoe recalled how the attendant 'unnecessarily' kept repeating this statement, so the customers found spaces further down the plane.
However, when Zoe's brother put one of his small bags under his seat, David said the bag needed to be moved.
"He reiterated that it wasn't his job to sort out luggage," Zoe said. "Exasperated by this steward’s unpleasant, unhelpful and aggressive manner, I asked 'who’s job is it then? You’re not being very helpful'."
It was at this moment that the attendant allegedly told the customers he was 'not prepared to have' them on his flight.
"No warning, just straight to removal. We were absolutely gobsmacked, it felt it was a spiteful response to being questioned," Zoe said.
Zoe claimed that they were told they might be able to stay on the plane if they apologised, even though they 'didn’t know what we were apologising for', they apologised three times.
Unfortunately David 'refused to accept it', and the captain said he was unable to 'override the steward's decision'.
Thanks to their placement right at the front of the plane, other passengers 'were not really aware of what was going on' with Zoe and her brother. However, she claims they were left 'deeply humiliated' after David announced over the tannoy what was going on, which led to 'cheering' in the cabin.
After leaving the plane, the passengers were met by 'extremely sympathetic' police officers in the departure lounge.
"They checked that we were okay and were kind and considerate," Zoe said. "I wanted them to meet us as I wanted them to see that we were not drunk (I don’t drink) as I didn’t want easyJet to claim that we were [or] had been."
Zoe claimed the police have not been in touch since. They have been banned from flying with easyJet for two years.
An email she received from the airline apologised for 'the inconvenience caused with regards to [her] experience at the airport', adding: "Please be informed that we strive to make sure that customer service is at the heart of everything we do, and our staff are well trained."
Zoe and her brother were able to get another flight to Seville the following day, but she says they were left 'devastated' over the events that unfolded.
Commenting on the incident, a spokesperson for easyJet said: "We can confirm that police attended flight EZY8175 from London Gatwick to Seville on 12th August as a result of two passengers on board behaving disruptively, who were not permitted to travel as a result.
“While we are very sorry to hear about Ms Reynolds’ circumstances, we do not take the decision to offload passengers lightly and, as her companion made a threat of physical violence towards our crew, the crew had no option but to not allow the customers to travel.
"We support the decision of our crew in the interest of safety and wellbeing of everyone on board.
"Safety is our highest priority and whilst such incidents are rare, we take them very seriously and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour towards our staff.”
LADbible has reached out to Sussex Police for comment.
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