Two sisters are suing a Dutch budget airline after their removal from a recent flight. That flight diverted after a passenger proved unable or unwilling to control his flatulence. The sisters claim they never farted and did not know the men who did, but were lumped together. I’m not making this up.
Two male passengers began fighting on a recent Transavia Airlines flight from Dubai to Amsterdam. Why? Because one of the men refused to stop farting and the other man got agitated.
The captain tried to calm the situation, but ended up declaring an emergency, reporting “passengers on the rampage” and making an emergency landing in Vienna.
On the ground in Vienna, police removed both men…but also two sisters who were siting nearby.
The sisters claim this was due to racial profiling and are now suing Transavia. The sisters of Moroccan descent, as were the two male passengers who fought over breaking wind.
25-year-old Nora Lachhab, one of the sisters, told De Telegraaf:
We had nothing to do with the whole disturbance. We distance ourselves from that. The blunt attitude of the Transavia flight attendants was wrong from the start of the flight. Do they sometimes think that all Moroccans cause problems?
That’s a fair question. But were these ladies related in any way?
We had no idea who these boys were, we just had the bad luck to be in the same row and we didn’t do anything. All I will say is that the crew were really provocative and stirred things up.
Transavia takes a different position. It claims the women were involved in the brawl and at least now, fully back their FAs.
Our crew must ensure a safe flight. When passengers pose risks, they immediately intervene. Our people are trained for that. ‘They know very well where the boundaries are. Transavia is therefore squarely behind the cabin crew and the pilots.
CONCLUSION
For whatever reason, I’m thinking of William Shakespeare. His plays are full of “bawdy” fart references. Take this exchange from Othello, for example:
CLOWN: Are these, I pray you, wind instruments?
FIRST MUSICIAN: Ay marry are they, sir.
CLOWN: O, thereby hangs a tail.
FIRST MUSICIAN: Whereby hangs a tail, sir?
CLOWN: Marry, sir, by many a wind instrument that I know.
There’s still something about this story that seems so comical. A plane actually diverted because a passenger would not stop farting and a fight broke out.
But if the women’s account of “guilt by association” is true, that is no laughing matter.
image: Transavia
I have a very hard time believing that the airline would remove two random women just because they are “brown”. The flight came from DXB so there were a few “brown” people on that plane. There is no reason to randomnly pick these two. And the fact that they are immediately going to suit shows aggressive behavior, possibly similar to what they may have displayed on the flight. Pulling the race card in this case just doesn’t smell right. I call BS on their claim.
Were the women overweight? In my experience, it is the overweight people, due to their diets, who cannot control their flatulence. I am sure they were involved somehow.
Matthew, second to last sentence, looks like a typo. You said:
“A plane actually diverted because a passenger would not start fighting and a fight broke out.”
I think you mean “…not stop farting…” as opposed to “…. not start fighting…”
Thanks! Fixed.
If this were Gary’s blog there’d be a picture of Ben’s Chili Bowl.
I am loving the Shakespeare reference. Newfound respect for Matthew.
Another example of mocro’s immediately pullng the race card. Normal dutch people won’t even know how to sue as such is a highly uncommon practice in the Netherlands. The fact they immediately knew how to do it, go through the effort and pull the race card tell me that there was some reason to got them removed.
I can imagine that because these two uninvolved women shared a language with the violent passengers they might have spoken together and been assumed to be travelling together. This does not make their removal right.
I also take issue with a post (looking at you, Andy) suggesting that the farter was overweight. Passing excess gas is indicative of not properly digesting food. Those that have trouble digesting food are more likely to be underweight. Is is a way of staying slim that is not a blessing. For such people the holy grail is the ability to maintain and gain weight.
In the last line it should read “would not Stop farting”. Cheers
Thanks!
Opening par in bold should read ” did NOT know the boys…”
As for the story: something of an over-reaction by the pilot. Diverting to Vienna rather continuing to Amsterdam …a further 70 minutes flying…suggests an urgency not supported by the rather comical events. 2 people engaged in a minor scuffle =insufficient grounds to divert.
Pilot probably wanted to pick up some Sacher Torte for after dinner.