squeeler

I was on my way back to LHR today on a fairly short EU flight. The lady next to me (1A) turned about and said "I thought I heard screaming" just as the door was being closed. I heard nothing, but then the noise became very apparent. There were two flight crew seating just behind me, and one got up and moved to the rear of the aircraft very quickly. The CC also moved back. There was a woman in the back row screaming her head off. I had no clue what was occurring, until the purser came through CE telling people that it was a deportee and she was being escorted by a policeman. She was sitting in the middle seat of the last row with a gent next to her, who I assume was the officer. There was a very light load; the crew moved all the economy passengers forward (still behind the curtain though), away from the racket. We had a ground hold for some time, so it when on for a while. A young CC lady came forward and suggested that she was sure the person would stop once the plane was on its way, which was indeed the case. The captain made no direct reference in his pre-flight announcement, but did say "I hope you manage to have a relaxing trip with us today', which was nice. A local police car was stationed near the aircraft the whole time we were at the busing stand.
I was off very quickly so did not see how they got her off at the gate at LHR.
I thought the BA crew did very well in the circumstances. It would have been far more unpleasant on a full flight. I commented that the two spare flight crew (who were positioning) were very small chaps and most unlikely bouncers.
I did wonder why there only appeared to be one escort, and also why someone was being deported from one EU country to another (though I guess she could have been in transit out of EU or off for an appearance in front of the beak).
But all in all, a bit upsetting for some, but well handled on board by BA.

David-A

There are plenty of people who have right to live in one EU country but are not themselves EU citizens with the right to live in any. Etc.

Additionally, as you say 'in front of the beak' - loads of people are transferred between EU countries every day under arrest warrants.

flyerbb

Lot of reasons even without being an illegal alien.

The UK not being in the Schengen area, living the UK or even visiting the UK you may still not be allowed to visit other European countries.

you may still be allowed to visit Schengen countries without visas, but for example if you passport expires less than 3 month (I think) after your inbound flight you may still be not allowed to enter the country.

T8191

Of course, it could have been a newly minted Bronze trying to get an upgrade to CE

Not a pleasant experience for the rest of the pax, but what else can you do?
... in a civilised society

stifle

Even EU citizens can be deported from EU countries under limited circumstances if they are certified to be a threat to public order.

Crampedin13A

Or perhaps she had been informed of BA's fuel surcharges. She had originally thought it was a free flight.

flyerbb

True, happens in the case of football games, some fans are "not welcomed"
and for other reason as well.

globalste

There is someone on here who knows the system very well who may be able to contribute.

As others have mentioned, there are lots of reasons to be deported. If it is because the passenger did not have the correct documentation, then it is the airline's responsibility to remove the passenger from the destination either to the point of origin or other suitable place.

The laws changed in the last 18months and lots of people from the likes of New Zealand who were resident in the UK and working there found themselves unable to re-enter the UK when they eg went on business or holiday for a week somewhere in Europe.

Here is a good read that happened earlier this year on a VS flight from Gatwick (apologies for it being from the Daily Mail) about a passenger that really did not want to be deported and tried to slit his own neck on board.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ic-flight.html

checkerboard

See this link for a different perspective on the subject:

http://www.noborder.org/archive/www....es/info_en.pdf

I once found myself on a BA flight with similar conditions to those described in the OP - and I found it especially uncomfortable:

Though I'm not a big fan of border controls in general, I do recognize that countries make a general practice of legislating and enforcing who may remain on their territory. States can and do set a range of penalties for failing to depart once one's authorized stay has expired; and the state has plenty of mechanisms for directly enforcing such expulsions.

However - I don't think that private air carriers (or sea carriers) should be in the business of transporting persons against their will. If an individual prefers to face the consequences of failing to depart rather than whatever awaits them where they'll be sent - well, a private air carrier should respect that choice. (One can imagine a number of instances where such forced transportation has in the past caused unconscionable harm - and for any given case, there is no guarantee that it is not doing so again.).

Concretely, on the flight where I personally observed this: the person in the back clearly did not wish to travel - and before the door closed, they were making a great deal of vocal protest from the back of the plane. I specifically asked the flight attendant whether the Captain was aware that a person onboard was apparently unwilling to travel - and she pointed to the closed cockpit door and indicated that he probably did not. I asked if she would inform him, and she declined; the plane-door closed, and off we went.

Now - I did consider simply standing up as a way to prevent the flight from departing until I was certain that the captain had decided to do so in full-knowledge of the situation. However - had I done so (the cabin crew later pointed out to me), I would have done so in contradiction of a direct order from them, at which point I would myself have been in violation of the law.

So - I don't know what the captain knew; I don't know what the story of this person was. But I do know that I felt totally powerless about the whole thing.

I'd be curious to know what our FTer Cabin Crew / Pilots can tell us about BA's practice with regard to forced transportation (either accompanied or unaccompanied).

matthandy

I'd imagine that they would tell you that they were complying with the law.

Without knowing the individual facts in each case, I'd say that if you had stood up and had a confrontation with the crew, all that would have happened is that you'd have been offloaded, refused travel and probably banned. The flight would then have taken off without you, so I doubt that it would have achieved much.

antichef

Being deported to the UK against your will is hardly going to set the human rights bandwagon marching.

origin

I am a UK tax payer. I dont want my taxes being spent on special flights for criminals and any other people who have come into the country wrongly. They can fly on our normal airlines. We do not have the money to splash on luxury flights for people who shouldnt be here or who have committed crimes in the UK or other countries.

ginger50

I was under the impression that airlines are responsible for the repatriation of passengers if they do not have the correct documentation to enter a country. I thought that this is why airlines are so careful about checking visas etc on check in.

If I am right then the law/contract that airlines have with destination countries will lead to some very difficult situations where a country denies entry to a passenger and the responsible airline "offers" to remove him/her. Clearly there is a human rights issue in that the passenger is being forced to board a return flight, however the destination officials presumably could offer to leave the passenger in the arrivals lounge.

globalste

Apologies on my previous post, I was getting mixed up between "deported" and "refused entry".

see here for deportation

http://www.inbrief.co.uk/immigration...on-from-uk.htm

obviously this thread could quickly spiral out of control into the abuse of the "human rights" system which repeatedly fails when it comes to known criminals not being deported.

The airline is responsible from the moment they carry the passenger out of the country to the moment they enter into the country. Entry into the country only occurs once the passenger has passed immigration, if they do not, then the airline is responsible (not offers) for transporting the person back on the next available flight, they are not forbidden from legally claiming back the expense of the ticket from the person refused entry. This is Aviation Law and human rights does not count. If the next flight is in the morning, the passenger is usually detained.

Obviously there are people who tear up passports in the toilet and claim asylum etc, so that starts to go down another track, but I think that is for the chief immigration officer to decide what happens and whether it is a valid claim.

The captain will have been fully aware of the passenger on board, they will have been boarded first, separately.

squeeler

Checkerboard, the Captain certainly was aware of what was going on. The CC and the traveling Flight Crew were speaking to him through the open cockpit door during the delay.