On Thursday, during a Ryanair flight from Manchester to Barcelona, thirty year old bride-to-be Kelly Lloyd was filmed attacking a member of her own bachelorette party group. In the video, we only see Lloyd doing the punching, but she claims it was in self-defense.
The bride told the Manchester Evening News:
"She threw me to the floor and was kicking and punching me. She was screaming and saying she was going to kill me. I thought I was going to die. I know I should not have hit her back but it was self defence. I had not even been drinking. I just wanted to enjoy my hen [bachelorette party] do but now it has been ruined."
Passenger Tony Tickle, a bonsai artist from Ramsbottom, filmed a portion of the event on his cell phone and also gave a somewhat chauvinist account:
"All of a sudden I heard it all kicking off. I could see shouting and it looked like two girls were fighting. Then I saw the bride run along and jump in. She threw three or four punches. I grabbed my phone to get it on camera. It all happened so fast. It lasted about a minute in all. The flight attendants rushed in and separated them and got the main protagonist out of there. Thankfully the crew were all male and got it under control quickly. It happened with about 40 minutes left of the flight and the one of the girls was led away and an attendant sat with her. I am not sure if the police were involved when we landed. The stewards did a great job though."
Whoa. Hold on there, Mister Tickle. So what you're saying is that a female crew couldn't have controlled the situation? I know plenty of capable, professional female flight attendants who would beg to differ, and maybe send a punch or two your way! Maybe Tony was just hoping to catch a great girl fight on camera?
The bride told the News that her attacker will not participate in the wedding, and was arrested upon arriving back to Manchester on Friday.
Ryanair, based in Ireland, serves 20 European countries with a fleet of all Boeing 737s. Known for nickle and diming its passengers, it's American equivalent would be Spirit Airlines.
Top image: Ryanair 737 by Andrew Thomas on Flickr, licensed for Creative Commons commercial use.