Drunk couple's four-hour smoking session in plane toilet leaves others stranded at 'warzone' airport for 17 hours

A flight was diverted to a "warzone" in Maine after the captain was fed up with warning two people to come out of the lavatory. Two passengers were smoking cigarettes inside the toilet and refused to come out despite being told multiple times. The captain landed the plane at a small airport, after which the nightmare began for all the passengers. They were stuck there for 17 hours waiting for a rescue flight, as the same plane could not take off due to regulations. The passengers were forced to cramp up in a small space, lying side by side. The horrifying experience was recounted by the passengers who were livid to be put in such a situation because two people would not stop smoking.

Plane was turned around and landed at a small Maine airport

The TUI Airways plane was going from Cancun, Mexico, to London. About an hour into the flight, the pilot got on the intercom and announced that two people were smoking in the toilet and if they didn't come out, he would turn the plane around and land it somewhere it was not scheduled to land, Terry Lawrance of the UK told Southwest News Service. Three hours after the first announcement over the Canadian border, he made another announcement that the plane was being diverted to Bangor, Maine. The plane landed at the airport at 9:30 pm. The smoking couple, who were “clearly drunk”, were taken away, and the rest of them were told that the plane would take off as soon as the required paperwork was over. The passengers remained on the plane for five hours. Also Read: Delta passengers grounded at remote island for 29 hours after 21-year-old plane takes detour

Passengers were stranded as the crew could not work the flight due to regulations

Finally, the plane started moving, and it appeared they would leave soon. However, Lawrance recalled that they were informed about "a problem with the flight plan," and that they would have to get off the plane. Reportedly, the original crew could not work the flight back to Gatwick as they had exceeded their legal working hours. Little did the passengers know that they were in for a nightmare. They got off at what appeared to be a military airbase. “It was like free-for-all for vultures," Lawrance said. "It was like a warzone in a lounge — rows and rows of beds," with passengers lying down side by side. Lawrance said "they waited six or seven hours" before being offered a drink. Another plane had taken off from London to bring them back and reached Maine the next day. The flight left at 3 pm, 17 and a half hours after they had landed at the Maine airport. Also Read: The REAL reason why planes don't fly over Antarctica...and no, it is not political

Passengers stranded for 29 hours on remote Atlantic island

In a similar incident this month, Delta Flight 127 left Madrid around 1 pm on Sunday (6 July) for New York and turned around over the Atlantic Ocean after an hour. The pilots suspected a technical problem with the plane and landed at the Lajes Airport on the Portuguese island of Terceira. It was a small airport, and the passengers complained of a lack of communication from Delta. Another plane took off from JFK airport five hours after the first plane landed on the island. The passengers remained stuck on the remote island for 29 hours.