18 women kicked off plane for wearing 'offensive' clothing

A group of 18 women on a Hen do were kicked off a Jet2 flight to Magaluf because staff said their t-shirts were "offensive".

The party, from Leicester, were warned by airline staff they would have to remove the clothing or cover up.

All were wearing black t-shirts with the slogan 'Bitches On Tour' written on the front in pink.

Jet2 allege the women "ignored" repeated warnings and they were forced to take the decision to "remove" the group from the flight from East Midlands Airport to Mallorca.

But one of the women in the group disputed Jet2's account and said the they had been "humiliated".

The woman, who asked not to be named, told the Leicester Mercury: "It's a complete load of rubbish.

"We were a group of 18 friends and family who were on our way to Magaluf to celebrate an upcoming wedding.

"We were not offending anybody."

Another Lauren Clarke, 36, from Neville Holt, in Leicestershire, said: "We sat in our seats and some of the group took their jackets off, the writing is on the back so we didn't think it would be a problem whilst we were sitting down.

"Then a few members of the group got taken to the front of the plane where they were told they had to leave.

"We hadn't been drinking and we weren't being rowdy.

"We weren't even sitting together on the plane."

"The air hostesses didn't seem to mind so much but it was a member of management who had said that we all had to leave.

"The lady who kicked us off said we had to pay for another flight too.

"If that lady had told us to take them off in the first place we would have, we all had hand luggage so it wouldn't have been a problem, but she didn't tell us that."

Miss Clarke has claimed that they were only told to cover up in the check-in area and they did not have any problems in the other areas of the airport.

The group of eighteen have had to pay for another flight to get to Palma and they have ended up travelling from different airports across the country.

Miss Clarke has described the bride-to-be as being "devastated" after her pre-wedding trip was nearly ruined.

The holiday has cost the group £500 each in total and some women have had to pay more than £130 for new flights on top of that.

The bride-to-be's mother and auntie have decided not to try and re-book their flights at all after today's events and will no longer be travelling on the trip, it is believed.

A Jet2.com spokesman said: "The group were asked to either wear different attire or cover up the offensive language, and were reminded of this on numerous occasions, including by the airport police whilst in the departures area.

"Once in the cabin, and in the presence of families and young children, several members of the group decided to ignore these repeated warnings, at which point our crew took the decision to remove them from the flight."

But the Leicester women deny that they were spoken to by airport police and say they had tried to comply with requests to cover up the slogan.

Giving her account of events, one said: "It's what people tend to do on hen or stag parties.

"But we had no intention of offending anyone, it was just a silly thing.

"It wasn't until we were sat down in our seats, with luggage stowed away and seatbelts on that a few of the girls took their jackets off because it was hot.

"That's when someone from Jet2 came on board and asked them to leave the flight.

"There was no explanation and in the confusion the rest of us followed to see what was going on – we were confused but there was no shouting or arguing.

"Then they told us that none of us would be allowed back on the flight – it was so humiliating, even other passengers were saying 'that's a bit harsh'.

"We are daughters, mothers and sisters who all have good jobs and were simply looking forward to our holiday."

Police were called to the airport but no arrests were made.