Passengers Cause Chaos by Refusing to Sit Next to Women on Easyjet Flight
Jackie Reddy February 17, 2017
The group of men, reportedly devout Orthodox Jews, were escorted off the plane at Luton after it arrived from Israel to prevent a potential breach of peace.
It has been reported that a group of men were escorted by police off an Easyjet flight from Tel Aviv as it landed at London Luton Airport (LTN) late on Monday afternoon. The Jewish Chronicle reports that the group of Orthodox Jewish men caused disruption on Easyjet Flight EZY2084 by apparently refusing to sit next to female passengers on religious grounds.
The paper reports that the men would not comply with the flight crew’s requests that they take their seats on the full flight. EZY2084 was delayed by 15 minutes as the men reportedly blocked the aisles of the plane. The group only agreed to sit down after a number of female passengers swapped their seats.
One unnamed passenger explained the incident to the paper, saying, “A group of around 10 ultra-Orthodox men caused absolute bedlam on the flight. At one point there were about 10 men in black hats blocking the aisles and refusing to sit down.”
The traveler added, “When some of the women got up and moved seats to ensure that the plane got to take off, some of these men never even thought about saying ‘thank you’.”
Local police from Bedfordshire, the county in which LTN is located, met the plane as it landed and the men were escorted away in order to prevent a potential breach of peace.
In a statement, Easyjet said that it, “can confirm that flight EZY2084 from Tel Aviv to Luton on 13 February 2017 was met by police on arrival at London Luton due to a small group of passengers behaving disruptively by not complying with the captain and cabin crew’s request to take their seats both prior to departure from Tel Aviv and during the flight.”
Bedfordshire police also confirmed the incident, saying, “We were called at around 5.55 p.m. on Monday to reports of a group of disruptive men on a flight landing at London Luton Airport. Officers attended and escorted the men off the flight preventing a breach of the peace. No offenses were found to have been committed.”
You’re Reading
This happened on an Easyjet flight I was on to Tel Aviv in October. It appears to happen on every EZY flight on that route. The Hassid behind me refused to sit next to the middle-aged woman, So the Hasid next to me offered to sit in her place. She sat next to me. Lovely Israeli Jewish woman. We had a nice chat for a couple of hours. You wouldn't believe the anger and vitriol secular Israelis have towards these people. I'm pretty sure EZY cabin crew on the Israel-UK route have special extra training and get extra danger money to deal with these fruit loops. Especially when they start 'davening' (praying) in the middle of the aisle when the seatbelt ON sign illuminates. I'm (secular) Jewish. so no accusations of anti-semitism please. But they are an appalling group of people to share any confined space with. Utterly ignorant and contemptuous of anyone and anything outside their sect. And don't stand anywhere near them at the baggage carousel if you value your life and a limb.
BMGRAHAM, You clearly have never been around Orthodox Jews and are letting your progressive "tolerance" blind you to reality. This is absolutely par for the course and something they do often. I personally saw one arrested and taken off an Amtrak for the same reason. I know it's hard to believe, but culture influences behavior, and not all cultures are equal or as equitable. Shocking, huh?
BMGraham, there are many reported cases of similar incidents of ultra-Orthodox Jews refusing seating, or even to be served by a female flight attendant. I'm Jewish (far from Orthodox), and I have no sympathy for these fliers. I believe the rights to your religious beliefs are limited to those which have no unwanted impact on those who have different beliefs.
It's interesting how intolerant most of these comments are. I wish I had been there to see what really actually did happen, as opposed to the most likely very inaccurate version reported here.
How come it's always the women who have to move? If these clowns wanted to make sure they didn't sit next to a woman, they should have booked El Al, not EasyJet. Chances are the women who moved had already paid extra to be placed in an early boarding group so they could get seats of their choice. These men could have done the same, but instead threw temper tantrums on board in order to get their way.