A Sunwing Airlines flight had to divert to Bermuda after a family of smokers found lighting up in the lavatory refused to cooperate with the cabin crew and became verbally abusive. The flight was en route from Halifax to the Dominican Republic on Friday night when a mother, father and two sons ages 16 and 22 were caught smoking by a passenger. They were "very uncooperative," Sunwing spokesman Daryl McWilliams told CBC News, and they refused to tell the crew if they had left other cigarettes on the aircraft. After diverting to Bermuda, the airline sent a mechanic to thoroughly check the airplane, and 170 passengers and crew had to spend the night. "This was a very expensive exercise for Sunwing," McWilliams said.
The uncooperative smokers were held in Bermuda, where they may face charges, according to CBC. The airline said the smokers will never fly on Sunwing again. "There's no hope," McWilliams said. "We would have a record of what happened and we wouldn't carry them." Besides the costs of the diversion, the airline picked up the tab for an additional night's stay at resorts in the Dominican Republic, to make up for the night passengers missed.
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