At the time, Boutiche and his friend Islam Fessih, 19, had just wrapped their stay in Portugal, where the pair traveled to in order to attend a music festival. However joyous the festival may have been, things quickly went downhill for the friends when it came time to take to the skies and head back home.
After boarding Ryanair flight FR9543 on Wednesday, Boutiche asked one of the plane’s flight attendants whether it would be okay for him to sit next to Fessih, since no passenger had been assigned the seat. That attendant alleged that Boutiche pushed her, prompting police to be called.
Footage widely shared on social media captures the moments in which officials approach Boutiche, eventually dragging him from the plane.
— Islam (@Islam768) August 7, 2019
“You’re breaking my neck. You’re breaking my neck,” Boutiche yells at an officer whose arms are wrapped around the 20-year-old passenger’s head.
In video recorded by Fessih, the concerned friend can be heard yelling at officials that they’re “hurting” Boutiche. He later tells Boutiche to “not resist” and to let police remove him from the plane in order to deescalate the situation.
As Fessih pleads with his friend, other passengers can be heard objecting to the officers’ actions. One unidentified passenger is heard repeatedly telling police, “You’re hurting him.” The video cuts off as another traveler attempts to get between police and Boutiche.
Subsequent footage filmed and shared by Fessih on Twitter that same day shows the friends at a Ryanair customer service desk. They were denied service.
— Islam (@Islam768) August 7, 2019
As both Boutiche and Fessih were booted from the flight, the friends ended up spending another day in Portugal. They were able to schedule a flight home Thursday with a different airline.
Speaking to Mirror Online, Boutiche told the outlet that he had multiple injuries as a result of the altercation. "My hand is cut up, it's burning me at the moment … my ankle has been sprained, and my neck is hurting me,” he said.
"We're just two young lads. We're not looking for trouble; we just wanted to get back home,” Boutiche continued. "I've never experienced anything like this, I never thought it was possible to go through what I've gone through.”
"It's made me very emotional,” he added.
Fessih told the UK outlet that they didn’t know the police had been called until they arrived on the plane to remove Boutiche, adding that his friend more than likely accidentally bumped the attendant after he returned to his originally assigned seat.
"We're in a foreign country; we don't speak Portuguese; we don't know the legal system," Fessih said. "I started filming for my own protection.”
"There were a lot of kids on the plane crying. You don't expect to witness that,” he said.
According to Fessih, the duo were taken to a police station within the airport before being released without any charges. In an early Thursday tweet, Fessih revealed that Ryanair had reached out to him regarding the incident, informing him that as a result of his “disruptive behavior,” he was barred from flying with the carrier in the future.
