Why you should never, ever use the business loo

IT’S one of the big rules in the sky. And an economy class passenger claims she was handcuffed and kicked off the flight for breaking it. She ended up in tears.

IT’S an unspoken rule of air travel — if you’re in economy you’re not allowed to venture up to the business class toilet.

One woman did this last week, and will surely never attempt it again.

A 50-year-old passenger claims she was escorted off her flight in handcuffs after becoming sick in a business class toilet. But the airline claims they were left with no choice.

Air Berlin flight made an emergency landing in Turkey’s eastern province of Erzurum.

Air Berlin and the disgruntled female flyer are offering two different stories as to how and why she was escorted off the aircraft.

Edita Kmetova, from Slovakia, claims the incident occurred while she was aboard a flight from Vienna to Abu Dhabi last week, when she had a sudden onset of airsickness and needed to use the lavatory.

According to her account, the economy class rest rooms were occupied, requiring her to run to the business class loo for relief, even though passengers in that section of the plane objected to her being there.

When she exited the lavatory, Kmetova alleges she was met outside by cabin crew, angry passengers and one of the pilots.

Kmetova was reportedly handcuffed after an argument ensued, and the pilot decided to make an emergency landing at Turkey’s Erzurum Airport to have her removed from the aircraft.

“They then abandoned me in Erzurum, a place I could not even find on a map if I tried,” Kmetova told local BGN News.

“I was left all alone. At that point, I broke down into tears.”

The airline is disputing Kmetova’s recollection of events.

An Air Berlin spokesperson said Kmetova was “extremely aggressive” on the flight and although the crew did everything possible to calm the guest and ensure the safety on board, the diversion was necessary.

“During the flight from Vienna to Abu Dhabi on October 21, a guest stormed towards the toilet in the business class,” an Air Berlin spokesperson said in a statement sent to news.com.au.

“The crew explained to the guest in a friendly manner that she should use the toilet in economy class, which the guest refused.

“Back at her seat, the crew approached the lady to explain the situation to her as the guest was still very upset, disturbing other passengers around her.

“Although the crew did everything possible to calm the guest, she showed an extremely aggressive and violent behaviour towards the crew and other travellers in the course of the situation.

“As a consequence of this behaviour, the captain decided to make an unscheduled stop at Erzurum in Turkey, where the passenger was handed over to the police.

“We ... place a great deal of importance to fly our guests safe and sound to their destinations and our crews would never take drastic actions like in this case unless there is a strong reason for it.”

The night manager at Erzurum Airport, Abubekir Özcan, took to Facebook to share how upsetting the entire ordeal was.

“The business class toilet is used by a few people while the economy class serves almost 200, when she used it, things got out of hand,” wrote Özcan.

“When we were contacted, we thought something serious had happened … When I approached her I saw an elderly woman crying and she was handcuffed. She was the only Slovakian on the plane. The rest were Austrians. I had her handcuffs removed and escorted her out of the plane.”

Edita Kmetova. Picture: Hurriyet TV

The passenger had only been to Turkey once, on vacation in Antalya, and had no idea where Erzurum was. Picture: Hurriyet TV

The passenger was heading to Abu Dhabi to visit her daughter. Picture: Hurriyet TV

This article was originally published on Flyertalk.com.