Cheryl Sainsbury, from Pontypridd, said that cabin crew were searching the plane for a rucksack before their flight was escorted to Lanzarote by fighter jets following a bomb scare on a TUI flight from Cardiff to Lanzarote
A group of friends from Pontypridd were caught up in the “surreal” moment a TUI flight from Cardiff Airport was escorted by fighter jets after a bomb scare. Cheryl Sainsbury and her three friends Leanne Thomas, Cherie Gurner and Tara Pumford were looking forward to enjoying a last-minute holiday in Lanzarote when their flight took a turn for the worse.
While flying over Portugal on Thursday morning (June 19), around half-way through the almost four hour flight, the captain came over the radio to say that the plane would need to land as soon as possible because there was reports of a “device” on board. “We were sort of looking at each other thinking ‘what’s he on about’?”, Cheryl, 43, said.
“We were all scared but there was no sense of panic as such on board. Everybody seemed to come together and just looked out for each other. We all wanted to make sure everyone was ok.”
She added that the cabin crew from TUI remained calm and “brilliant” with all the passengers. You can read more about what happened to the flight here.
While everyone was told to remain in their seats, the crew looked under the seats and in the overhead lockers to check that all the luggage was accounted for. “I think they were looking for a black rucksack,” Cheryl said.
While onboard and waiting for news about what would happen next, the passengers tried to message loved ones to tell them what was happening to them. Get the latest Ponty news first by signing up to our newsletter here
At the time, the group thought that someone had put a call in to say that there was a bomb on board, but they later found out that a threatening handwritten note was found in one of the toilets .
The next announcement from the captain said that a risk assessment had been carried out and it was concluded that the threat was low, so the flight would no longer be landing earlier in Portugal.
However, for the passengers and crews’ safety, they were escorted the rest of the way by two Portuguese fighter jets before they safely landed at the airport in Arrecife, Lanzarote.
Cheryl said: “Once we landed on the ground, it was the biggest celebration and sense of relief.
“We were taken to a remote part of the airport and there were police and fire engines surrounding the plane. We had to get off one-by-one.”
However, the ordeal was not completely over as the group had to wait for the emergency services on the ground to check through all the luggage before they were allowed to leave.
“We had to stand on the tarmac with all the luggage but we weren’t allowed to touch of any of it,” Cheryl explained. “They brought sniffer dogs and the bomb squad so we just had to stand their and watch before they let us on the bus.
“We got taken to some form of compound where there were no refreshments and just one toilet. We just had to wait their until they had approval from the police to let us go to get back to the normal part of the airport where we could go through immigration and collect our cases.
Since managing to leave the airport, the group have been enjoying some drinks in Lanzarote to try and “settle their nerves” after the experience. They are due to fly back home on Sunday and are hoping that flight is less eventful.
Cheryl said: “It was such a weird experience especially as I’m a quite anxious flyer so I don’t know how we did it. Even though we were all scared, we just stuck together and tried to keep it calm.”
Despite the full-on response, officials eventually discovered there was no explosive device aboard, and local police have now launched an investigation to determine who wrote the letter found in the bathroom.
A spokesperson for Cardiff Airport said: “We are aware of an incident involving flight TOM6422 from Cardiff to Lanzarote on 19/06/25. The safety of our passengers is our number one priority. No concerns or suspicious activity were raised prior to departure.”
TUI have been contacted for comment
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