Economy passenger handcuffed off flight for using business class toilet

onnaedo

November 2, 2015 11:21 AM

A 50-year old woman from Slovakia was handcuffed off an Air Berlin flight going from Vienna to Abu Dhabi.

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If you ever nursed ideas of using a business class toilet as an economy class passenger, you may want to banish those thoughts.

According to Daily Mail, a 50-year old woman from Slovakia learnt this the hard way after she was handcuffed off an Air Berlin flight going from Vienna to Abu Dhabi.

The woman, Edita Kmetova claimed that she started feeling unwell after the flight took off and found the economy class toilet was occupied. She then made her way to the one in business class.

Upon leaving the toilet, she was confronted by cabin crew, angry passengers, and one of the captains where an argument ensued.

Kmetova was subsequently handcuffed at which point the pilot decided to make an emergency landing into Erzurum Airport in Turkey.

Narrating her experience to BGN News, Kmetova said:

'During the flight, I suddenly got nauseous and rushed to the lavatories. First the passengers interfered, then the flight personnel and they argued with me, and eventually they handcuffed me. They then abandoned me in Erzurum, a place I could not even find on a map if I tried. I was left all alone. At that point, I broke down into tears.'

Reacting to the incident, a spokesman for Air Berlin however said Kmetova was disruptive and aggressive, hence the decision to handcuff her and make the emergency landing.

According to the Air Berlin spokesperson,

'As Air Berlin places a great deal of importance on in-flight safety, the pilots decided to make an unscheduled stop at Erzurum in Turkey, where the passenger was handed over to the police.'

Air Berlin further claimed that all the economy toilets were available, and that Kmetova was told in a ‘friendly’ manner by staff that she was not supposed to use the business class cubicle.

Abubekir Özcan, an airport night manager who shared the incident on Facebook said of the incident:

''When we were contacted, we thought something serious had happened. When I approached her I saw an elderly woman crying and she was handcuffed. I had her handcuffs removed and escorted her out of the plane."

She was refused entry back to the flight by the pilot and was taken to a hotel for the night.

onnaedo