A Thomas Cook Airlines flight originally scheduled to take off at 1:25 a.m. on July 12 experienced a major delay because of a pair of perturbed women who informed the crew that they refused to fly with three “disgusting” Muslim men on the plane, claiming the men, dressed in white prayer robes, were a “threat” and a flight risk.
In a tweet thread, passenger Shanea Kerry recounted some of the events that delayed the flight out of the majority Muslim country.
Kerry says that she and her friend were confused when two women began to act “distressed” and proceeded to pace up and down the aisles as others were still boarding. Soon after, the duo went to the front of the plane to express to the flight attendants that they wanted three “disgusting” Muslim men removed.
After their request was denied, the women began to make a scene and insults began flying from fellow passengers condemning the women’s vocal disdain for the Muslim men.
Kerry was not the only passenger who took to social media during the unnecessary delay. Mario Van Poppel, a London-based father of three, also expressed his disgust at the more vocal woman’s display.
a passenger on our Thomas Cook flight #MT105 from Dalaman to Gatwick refuses to board the plane because three bearded men in white prayer robes are on board. All passengers are united in anger against this crazy #racist woman. It's 2am #fedup
— Mario Van Poppel (@poppelmario) July 11, 2019
In response to another netizen, Poppel went on to say that the plane was “united against her.”
Eventually the women left the plane, only for the more boisterous of the pair to come back and continue to make a scene while retrieving her luggage.
Van Poppel recorded and originally posted the video on Facebook, but the footage has since made its way to YouTube. The other woman reportedly had already left the plane at this point.
Kerry also recorded a portion of the same scene from her vantage point.
I’m trying to get the full footage but just in case this blows before I attach it & explain it all,
— YT : SHANEA KERRY 🎥 (@shaneakerry) July 12, 2019
this is the main woman that was attempting to get the men removed from the plane & screamed abuse at us & other passengers. pic.twitter.com/IWLQYEaV1K
According to Thomas Cook Airlines, the police were called during the incident. It’s unclear whether the women were charged, but Twitter user @MapleHornet claims the woman seen in the videos was on her 6 a.m. flight from Dalaman to Bournemouth and lied to fellow passengers, telling them she missed her Gatwick flight.
Though Van Poppel claims “the Thomas Cook cabin crew did a great job,” Kerry was not as impressed and claimed that there was only an apology to the passengers as a whole for the delay and the “scene,” while the men who were directly targeted did not receive support.
