Members of the extended family of Irish descent, removed from a trans-Atlantic flight after a fracas on Sunday, may face a possible major legal claim, possible rearrest in Britain and a ban from travelling on some package holiday flights, it emerged yesterday.
Airtours, the holiday company whose aircraft was forced to divert its London to Jamaica flight to Norfolk International Airport, Virginia, said last night that it would be taking legal action to recover the estimated £20,000 cost of diverting the flight.
It had also asked police at Gatwick Airport in London to investigate the incident. A spokesman said that action was being sought under the Air Navigation Order relating to "endangering an aircraft".
The passengers received a further blow last night when Airtours banned them for life from travelling on its flights.
Members of the extended family said last night that they were "sick and disgusted" at their treatment by the airline.
As the family prepared to spend a second night in Norfolk, Virginia, from where they are attempting to secure a flight either to Britain or to continue their holiday, Mr Miles Connors (35), who was taken off the flight in Virginia with 11 other members of his family, denied that there had been any fighting on the airliner.
Mr Connors told The Irish Times: "I could understand if one or two were taken off the plane, but they took 12 people off for no reason. I was asleep, I didn't know what was going on, and 20 minutes later the plane landed at Norfolk and we were told to get off."
Describing what had happened, Mr Connors, from Croydon, south London, insisted that the row was being blown out of all proportion: "I feel guilty because it was only between me and another guy, and now the rest of them have been punished. There was a coloured chap who threw some whisky or brandy. He was grumbling about the women at the back of the plane who were singing, but they were not singing loudly . . . Then the stewardess came and sat them both down and 20 minutes later we landed in Norfolk."
He said the family, some of whom came from Ballsbridge in Dublin, Sligo town and Newry, Co Down, did not believe that there was any anti-Irish bias in the decision to remove them from the flight. "No, not at all. I think it was just that we were a group."
When the Connors family and their relatives in the Driscoll family were removed from the flight, some in handcuffs, they were interviewed by the American authorities, but were not charged with any offence. The family spent Sunday night at the Holiday Inn Executive Centre close to Norfolk International Airport and re turned to the airport early yesterday morning.
Another member of the group, Mr Francis Coyle, said that the family would be seeking compensation from Airtours: "We have paid about £20,000 for this holiday. It was an all-inclusive holiday and now the airlines here are asking $1,000 a piece for a flight to get out of here."