Hen party kicked off flight for wearing 'b****** on tour' t-shirts
POLICE removed an entire hen party from a holiday jet after staff ruled their t-shirts were “too offensive”.
Heartbroken bride-to-be Emma Green, 35, told how her hopes of a dream wedding were in tatters after the 18-strong group was kicked off the Jet2 flight from East Midlands Airport to Mallorca.
The group were wearing black t-shirts with the words “B****** on tour” emblazoned on the back in pink letters.
One member of the party said they were told that because of the current terrorism threat the airline were clamping down on all their policies - which included wearing offensive clothing.
The women, aged 35 to 60, had to fork out an extra £2,500 to book five flights from different airports across the UK before arriving for their four-day break 24 hours later than planned.
Last night tearful Emma, a mental health worker, said: “It has completely ruined the whole experience.”
We want an apology and compensation from Jet2 because we have been treated appallingly.
Emma - who is due to wed finance Aaron Bateman, 44, in August - added: “Part of me doesn’t even want to get married now, I just feel like something will end up going wrong on the day.”
The drama happened on Tuesday morning after the group arrived at the airport to catch the 8.25am flight to Palma.
The group claim a management official ordered them to change their clothes or cover up the “offensive language” which was emblazoned on the back of their shirts.
The women put on jackets and proceeded through security and onto their aircraft with no problems.
But their celebration came to an abrupt halt when cabin crew members ordered them to leave the plane because of their inappropriate attire.
The party were escorted from the aircraft by police and told if they wanted to continue on the journey they would have to stump up for new tickets.
Emma, from Leicester, said the police seemed confused at how far things had escalated and added: “The police looked bewildered by it all, I think they knew it was ridiculous.
“I hardly think the t-shirts were that offensive in the first place.
“We are all professional women mainly in our late 30s and 40s. I work with mental health patients and I am not a trouble-maker. We did not deserve to be treated like we did.
“Nobody even spoke to me about the t-shirts, the first I knew we were being kicked off the flight.
“It’s going to be really hard to enjoy ourselves now. We are just gutted that it came to this when there was no need.
“We want an apology and compensation from Jet2 because we have been treated appallingly.”
Another member of the group, mother-of-three Lauren Clarke, 36, told how she ended up travelling to Luton Airport - 87 miles away.
She said: “We sat in our seats and some of the group took their jackets off, the writing is on the back so we didn’t think it would be a problem whilst we were sitting down.
“Then a few members of the group got taken to the front of the plane where they were told they had to leave.
“They pretty much marched us off two by two and told us we would have to pay for new flights.
The woman even told us because of the current terrorism threat they were clamping down on all their rules - one of which is offensive t-shirts.
“But what on earth has a hen-do got to do with company policies on terrorism?
“We hadn’t been drinking and we weren’t being rowdy. We weren’t even sitting together on the plane.
“We’re not a group of lager louts - we are all aged between 35 to 60 and we are respectable working mums.
“We have a couple of lawyers with us and I work with special educational needs children. None of us are trouble-makers in the slightest.
“The air hostesses didn’t seem to mind so much but it was a member of management who had said that we all had to leave.
“The lady who kicked us off said we had to pay for another flight too.
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“If that lady had told us to take them off in the first place we would have, we all had hand luggage so it wouldn’t have been a problem, but she didn’t tell us that.
“We were just thrown off. We offered to get changed quickly in the bathrooms but she wasn’t having any of it.
“Its not really that offensive anyway, its a word that’s in the dictionary, and you hear much worse in everyday life.
“We were all tired from being up from 7am and hadn’t had a single drink, we’d just had some food and were looking forward to getting out there.
“Even the police officers said they thought it was ridiculous.”
Miss Clarke has claimed that they were only told to cover up in the check-in area and they did not have any problems in the other areas of the airport.
The group of 18 ladies have had to pay for another flight to get to Palma and they have ended up travelling from different airports across the country.
The trip had already cost the group £500 each and some members of the party had to pay more than £130 for new flights on top of that.
The bride-to-be’s mother and aunt decided not to re-book their flights and stayed at home instead.
Miss Clarke added: “Its really put a downer on the whole thing. We are all hard working and were looking forward to getting away to celebrate out friends hen do.
“Its took a year to organise and the bride-to-be is beside herself. Its potentially ruined the trip.”
A Jet2.com spokeswoman said they were left with no choice but to remove the women from the flight.
She said: “They were told repeatedly to cover up including by the police which they repeatedly ignored so Jet 2 were left with no other choice but to remove them from the aircraft.
“As a family friendly airline that carries millions of holidaymakers, including families with young children, we will not allow people on board if they are using or displaying offensive language, or if they fail to comply with the instructions of our crew.”