By Michael Quandt
Serious incident on board a Condor flight to the Caribbean!
Two passengers got into an argument over the Atlantic and fought so badly that the captain decided to make a stopover in the Azores to throw the two brawlers overboard. The beginning of a true odyssey for the passengers and crew members.
Flight Condor DE2208 took off from Frankfurt (Main) on Sunday at 4:23 p.m., 48 minutes late. Destination: Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. The Boeing 767-300 should reach the holiday paradise 7520 kilometers away after a flight time of 10 hours and 10 minutes.
First a beating, then two stopovers
Over the Atlantic, the situation escalated in the cabin for an unknown reason: two passengers got into an argument and fought.
One condorSpokeswoman for BILD: “We can confirm that there was a physical altercation between guests on board flight DE2208. Our crews are trained for such cases. However, because no lasting de-escalation could be brought about, the captain decided, as envisaged in such a scenario, for an unscheduled stopover in the Azores in Ponta Delgada.”
The two passengers were then handed over to the police at the airport. It is not known whether alcohol was involved.
The problem of beating passengers was thus solved. But the next problem arose: Because the detour and the handover to the police had taken a lot of time, the cockpit and cabin crew would have exceeded the legal working time restrictions on a connecting flight to Punta Cana. So it was no longer possible to continue flying to Punta Cana on the same day.
And so there was a third problem.
“After there was not enough hotel capacity in Ponta Delgada, the plane flew to Tenerife in order to be able to observe the appropriate crew rest time there, while all guests could be accommodated and fed in hotels,” said the Condor spokeswoman to BILD. The onward journey from the Canary Islands to the Dominican Republic then took place on Monday evening (June 19).
After more than 24 hours, the Condor passengers landed safely in the Dominican Republic and were then able to enjoy their vacation in Punta Cana.
“We very much regret the late arrival of our guests. However, safety has top priority at all times,” said the Condor spokeswoman.