An Irish woman has described a recent Ryanair flight from Dublin to Ibiza as "completely out of control", claiming disruptive passengers left fellow travellers frightened and uncomfortable.
Blaise O'Hara, 64, said she has been travelling to Ibiza for more than 40 years but described her latest journey as one of the worst she has experienced.
Speaking to Newstalk, Blaise said she was travelling with her husband to meet relatives on the island when she noticed what she believed were intoxicated passengers before boarding the Ryanair flight.
"It started at the departure gate. We arrived, and there were two groups of people that I was concerned about in terms of their making an awful amount of noise and appearing to be inebriated," she said.
Blaise claimed she raised her concerns with a member of the ground crew before boarding, but felt her worries were dismissed.
She said the atmosphere on board quickly became disruptive, with two separate groups of passengers shouting and making noise before the plane had even taken off.
According to Blaise, Ryanair cabin crew warned passengers that anyone caught drinking their own alcohol, vaping or playing music would be met by police when the flight landed in Ibiza.
"I don't know about the vaping, but certainly they were playing music, and I've no idea whether they were drinking their own alcohol or not. I didn't see that, but what I can attest to is that as they became noisier, the crew continued to serve them drinks," she said.
Blaise also claimed other passengers were visibly distressed by the behaviour, including a young girl who was "shaking from head to toe" and another woman who appeared increasingly agitated.
She added: "We have never had a pleasant experience flying from Dublin to Ibiza. Now, Ibiza to Dublin is absolutely fine and completely silent, because none of these people appears to have any money left."
The situation escalated further, Blaise alleged, when a young woman on board the Ryanair flight claimed she could organise "hook-ups" for passengers.
She also claimed that a man and woman entered one of the aircraft toilets together before emerging around 10 minutes later to cheers from the groups.
"The steward opened the toilet door after they exited, and whatever he saw, he then went and got a large bag of wet wipes and cleaned up whatever it was that they had left in the bathroom," she said.
Blaise also alleged that one of the male passengers pointed at her after asking the woman to arrange a "hook-up".
"He got up out of his seat and pointed at me and said 'I want her'. At which point, my new friend Paul intervened," she said.
She said the man stopped after realising her husband was seated across the aisle, adding that there was "no point" reporting the incident during the flight because the situation was "completely out of control."
"We paid for our seats, everybody has their own stresses in life, we should not be subjected to that, and frankly, they should have stopped selling them alcohol when it became clear that their behaviour was out of control," she said.
After landing in Ibiza, passengers were instructed to remain seated while police and paramedics boarded the aircraft.
Blaise claimed one male passenger was carried off the plane by paramedics, while three people from the groups were escorted away by police.
In a statement to RSVP Live, Ryanair said: "Crew on this flight from Dublin to Ibiza (13 Jul) called ahead for police assistance after two passengers became disruptive inflight. Due to their misbehaviour, crew refrained from serving these passengers alcohol from the bar, however, despite several warnings from crew, they continued to drink their own alcohol purchased pre-flight. Police met the aircraft upon landing at Ibiza Airport and these two disruptive passengers were removed."
