Male drunk passenger, lit a cigarette in the toilet, forced diversion of Thompson flight to Sofia
A Thomson Airways flight TOM 2570 from Manchester to Heraklion in Isle of Crete (Greece) was forced to divert to Bulgaria after a drunk passenger lit a cigarette in the plane toilet and had to be restrained by airline crew. This man’s misadventure meant nearly 180 passengers had to be diverted to Bulgaria and delayed by over 2 hours.
The incident happened after the passenger drinking his own duty free alcohol became aggressive and abusive to the crew.
At first the pilot radioed the Greek authorities to meet the plane and its unruly passenger, but as situation deteriorated a decision was made to divert the flight to Sofia in Bulgaria, where he was taken off and arrested by police. The plane landed at Sofia at 11:55pm on Friday 5th June 2015, and did not arrive Heraklion till 12.37am.
Thompson spokesperson said “Thompson Airways would like to apologise for any inconvenience experienced by the passengers on board flight TOM 2570 from Manchester to Heraklion diverted to Sofia due to a customer incident on board. Customer safety is always our top priority at all times”.