A TUI pilot threatened to hand passengers over to authorities following their behaviour in the airport departures lounge.
The incident, which was filmed and shared on TikTok over the weekend, shows the pilot getting on the plane’s intercom and giving passengers a dressing down, laying out the rules regarding how they must behave. It occurred on board a flight from Glasgow to Tenerife.
“How did you manage to get the flight delayed and captain raging? I need to know,” the TikTok user wrote in the caption. She added in the video: “I’m sorry but what did you do in departures to get the captain up here making an announcement to calm it!?”
The TUI pilot said he’d been advised that “there are some people on the airplane whose behaviour in the departure lounge has been getting towards the limit of what’s tolerable”. He warned them: “Please be very very careful as to how you behave on this flight.”
He explained it was a “family holiday flight” and any “rowdy behaviour” would not be tolerated.
Suggesting one or two passengers may have enjoyed too much booze before boarding, he went on: “So for those of you who have had a few scoops, great fantastic you are on holiday, that’s what it is all about or part of it – do not let it get out of control on this airplane.”
He pleaded with passengers to treat his cabin crew with “respect”, adding: “If they ask you to do something, they are doing it because I have asked them to tell you to do it.”
And bizarrely, he was forced to remind people not to smoke on the flight – a rule that has been in place on almost every plane since the 1990s. “I’m not allowed to smoke and nor are you,” he said. “It’s a safety thing – please do not spark up on this airplane.”
He warned passengers that he was prepared to “hand you over to the authorities there [Tenerife]” and concluded: “I’m sorry I have had to lay down the ground rules but there are a number of people on board the airplane whose behaviour is approaching the limits of what is acceptable. You have now been warned.”
Reacting in the comments section, another passenger on board the flight said: “We were on this flight. Captain was an absolute legend. His headmaster speech thankfully worked.” To which the original poster replied: “He was brilliant wasn’t he!!”
A TUI employee commented under the video: “I’m TUI cabin crew. All our captains are this brilliant, as are our crew.” And again, the original poster agreed.
TUI has been contacted for comment.