‘Drunk woman assaults crew’ in Wizz Air chaos as packed flight forced to divert

A Wizz Air flight was forced to divert after a “drunk” woman allegedly jeopardised the safety of the aircraft by assaulting crew members and other passengers.

Police officers were filmed boarding the packed flight from Gatwick to Funchal, Portugal, to arrest the woman. Her nationality is not yet known.

The plane left Gatwick yesterday (Friday, November 4) shortly before 5.30pm and was due to touch down in Funchal at around 9.30pm.

Instead it was diverted to Lisbon, arriving in the Portuguese capital just after 8pm.

The woman was removed from the plane and arrested.

Funchal-based paper Jornal da Madeira said they spoke to a Portuguese passenger while the plane was still on the tarmac at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport.

That passenger reportedly said: “We were diverted to Lisbon because of a drunk female passenger who began to assault other passengers.

“She also assaulted crew as well.

“We were informed after police boarded that the plane was due to leave Lisbon just after midnight, when it was supposed to have arrived at 9.25pm. That would mean us reaching our destination more than six hours late.”

According to Portuguese news outlet Correio da Manha, the problems were actually caused by two “drunk passengers” onboard the Wizz Air Airbus A321.

They reported that both passengers were arrested following the trouble.

Portuguese police could not be reached for comment early this morning (Saturday, November 5).

This comes after a man who was kicked off a Ryanair flight for being drunk said he got ‘too excited’ for his first holiday in 11 years.

Ashley Crutchley had got through a third of a vodka bottle and refused to disembark the Portugal-bound plane at Manchester Airport until he was escorted off by police.

Speaking at Manchester Magistrates’ Court, Crutchley’s solicitor said: “He was excited about being on holiday – he had not been on holiday for 11 years.”

In July he was fined £320 and ordered to pay £85 court costs and £128 victim surcharge.

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