A British holiday flight bound for Cuba was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Bermuda after a drunken passenger attempted to open the aircraft door at 50,000 feet. The First Choice Boeing 767-300, carrying more than 250 passengers including 30 children, had departed from Gatwick but was diverted due to the man's disruptive behaviour.
Passenger Dominic Carman, a journalist travelling with his wife and three children, described the incident. 'He was clearly very drunk,' Carman said. 'He first became abusive to another passenger and they almost came to blows. The captain announced that people drinking duty-free should stop, but the man continued to be abusive.'
The situation escalated when the man lunged for the door handle, prompting the captain to divert to the nearest airport. Police boarded the aircraft in Bermuda and led the man away. He was not arrested but was questioned by immigration officials.
A First Choice spokeswoman confirmed the diversion was due to the passenger's behaviour. 'In the interests of passenger safety, the captain decided to divert the plane to Bermuda to off-load the passenger,' she said. The flight, originally scheduled for midday, had already been delayed by four hours due to a technical issue.
Passengers were accommodated in a hotel overnight and faced a 14-hour delay before continuing their journey. The incident comes amid a 62 per cent rise in air rage incidents over the past year, according to official figures.
