TUI chaos as what passenger did forces pilot to land 2,200 miles away from UK

A father has described his family’s “horrible” ordeal after their TUI flight from Cancun to Manchester Airport was forced to divert to Canada following an incident involving an allegedly unruly passenger on board. The man, known only as Mr Stockford, was travelling home from an all-inclusive holiday in Mexico with his wife and four daughters when a man sitting directly behind his children reportedly began behaving in an “aggressive and alarming” manner during the Boeing 787-9 flight.

He said the passenger repeatedly attempted to leave his seat and at one point made “disturbing” comments about a “man with a knife”, causing distress among passengers, many of them children. Mr Stockford claimed cabin crew, with assistance from a doctor on board, were eventually able to restrain the man. However, as the aircraft continued across the Atlantic, the captain decided the passenger posed too great a safety risk, and the flight was diverted to Gander, Newfoundland in eastern Canada, where police were able to remove him.

The dad said the situation quickly escalated during landing.

“The plane landed quite firm, he tried to get up, TUI staff shouted ‘sit back down, now!’ and kids behind us were crying, thinking they were gonna die,” he said, according to Manchester Evening News. “They were saying, ‘why do I feel like I’m dying, mummy?’ It was horrible.”

Once on the ground in Gander - a town with a population of around 12,000 - passengers were left facing further disruption as they disembarked close to 400 people from the aircraft.

Mr Stockford said travellers were initially told they would be “looked after”, but he has claimed that communication and support from the airline were limited in the hours that followed. He described being transported to hotels in difficult conditions and said his family were later informed their room was only available for a short period due to local demand linked to a major event in the area.

He also claimed passengers faced long waits for transport, limited taxi availability, and eventually spent hours at Gander Airport after returning from their accommodation, with much of their luggage still on board.

“We entered a country at 3C having been in a 32C country,” he said. “We had shorts on, T-shirts, babies weren’t wrapped up.”

The Boeing 787-9 eventually resumed its journey, but the disruption meant the family arrived back in the UK a day later than scheduled. Mr Stockford said the ordeal had left his children shaken and described the experience as “completely failed” by the airline.

The Express has contacted TUI for comment.