Ryanair fight: Row over ‘woman not wearing shoes’ leads to bloody brawl on flight to Tenerife

'There was a family with a young boy sitting in front of us that witnessed all of the action,' eyewitness says

A pair of Ryanair passengers were detained by police after a fight on board a UK flight to Tenerife left blood spattered across the cabin.

Footage posted on social media showed the men brawling in the aisle in front of holidaymakers as crew members attempted to keep them apart.

Ben Wardrop, who filmed the incident, said the incident started as a row about a woman not wearing shoes on the 6.30am flight from Glasgow.

“A very drunk man pulled her up about it, saying that someone would stand on her toes, then the woman’s boyfriend stepped in and tried to defuse the situation.” Mr Wardrop said. “Once the plane landed and more alcohol was consumed the man and the woman’s boyfriend started arguing, both being very drunk they started to fight, and the man in the video with lots of blood was trying to get the man to calm down and he got hit on the nose.

“One of the cabin crew, which was a young woman aged about 24, was caught in the middle of it all and was very scared, but done a good job on defusing the men fighting.

“There was a family with a young boy sitting in front of us that witnessed all of the action. It was a very scary moment as it was very confined and lots of innocent people got involved due to the small space on the plane.”

He added: “Ryanair’s staff handled the situation very well.”

A photograph posted on Twitter appeared to show blood still on the door of an overhead luggage compartment before the plane’s next flight.

Ryanair confirmed officers in Tenerife had been called to meet the plane as it landed on Saturday.

“The crew of this flight from Glasgow Prestwick to Tenerife requested police assistance upon arrival after two passengers became disruptive in-flight,” the airline said in a statement.

“The aircraft landed normally and police removed and detained two individuals. We will not tolerate unruly or disruptive behaviour at any time and the safety and comfort of our customers, crew and aircraft is our number one priority.

“This is now a matter for local police.”

Press Association