An easyJet flight and its passengers were delayed by more than a day due to a group of travellers’ antisocial antics on board before take-off, according to a statement from the low-cost airline.
The departure, Flight EZY3077, was supposed to leave from Belfast International in Northern Ireland for Hurghada in Egypt at lunchtime on 3 January 2026. But, because of what easyJet described as passengers “behaving disruptively on board,” the departure did not take place until nearly 8 pm the following day.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland was called and has confirmed officers attended the incident and removed flyers from the plane, telling the press they “assisted Belfast International Airport Constabulary with the disembarkation of passengers.”
@easyJet – flight cancelled from Hurghada. No return until next Tuesday? Is this real? No one on the ground to assist and people simply abandoned. What can you do to help?
— David Turner (@Turner_Dave) January 4, 2026
The airline has insisted it will not “tolerate disruptive behaviour” and added: “The safety and well-being of our customers and crew is always easyJet’s highest priority.” It described the incident as “outside of our control” and apologised “for the inconvenience this will have caused.”
Unusually, easyJet’s social media comments appear to contain no references to the incident or footage of what happened. But the long delay was not entirely due to unruly behaviour. The flight was rescheduled for a departure slot six hours after its original time, but poor weather and slot issues caused a further 13-hour delay, Belfast International has said.
One post on X suggests the delay had a knock-on effect on a departure coming back from Hurghada to Belfast, with the commenter complaining to easyJet on 4 January that: “our Hurghada-Belfast flight was cancelled last night. We were taken to a hotel and had to check out at 12. We’ve had no info on food or transfers. Flight is 2 am tomorrow morning now. Who can give us some info?”
@easyJet our hurghada -Belfast flight was cancelled last night. We were taken to a hotel and had to check out at 12. We've had no info on food or transfers. Flight is 2am tomorrow morning now. Who can give us some info?
— G mcDermott (@Gmcdt) January 4, 2026
Other commenters on Facebook suggested the airline or courts should make the disruptive passengers pay for the disruption. “Pass on the cost incurred by easyJet, might make them think twice next time!!” one social media user said.
Another commenter, writing in Italian, accused English passengers of always getting “drunk even before boarding. It’s normal for them.” Replies asked the commenter how he knew the unruly passengers were English.
Drunken behaviour by passengers is something that has been criticised in the past by Michael O’Leary, boss of Europe’s biggest airline by passenger numbers and easyJet’s budget rival, Ryanair. O’Leary has called for limits to be placed on pre-flight alcohol consumption, citing the costs incurred by the industry as a result of unruly passengers.
