JANE Boulton made a name for herself on docuseries Airline as the no-nonsense operations manager who wasn’t afraid to tell it to passengers straight.
She was regularly seen putting out fires at London Luton airport’s EasyJet check-in desk on the popular ITV series, which began 25 years ago and ended in 2007.
Jane Boulton was regularly seen on the popular ITV series Airline’sCredit: Rex
![Airline Employee Reveals Untold Drama from Behind the Scenes and Luton's Most Difficult Customers 1 Now she's on TikTok lifting the lid on the show's secrets](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/airline-star-jane-boulton-finally-832691558.jpg)
Now she’s on TikTok lifting the lid on the show’s secretsCredit: Tik Tok/@janeboulton
But now, as video clips of her fraught exchanges with customers go viral on TikTok, Jane, 53, reveals she was once asked to fake an argument on camera – something she point blank refused to do.
She says: “Believe it or not we had days where nothing bad happened.
“Everyone arrived on time, everything went on time and one of the [production] staff said to me: ‘We haven’t got anything for three days, can you start an argument with someone?’
“I was really shocked. It upset me a little bit. I thought: ‘Wow, do I not take enough slack when things do go wrong?’
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“She just said: ‘Can you be rude to someone?’ and I said: ‘No, I bloody cannot. I’ll be rude to you, but I won’t be rude to them.’
“I think people think it was scripted, but it wasn’t – it was as it happened.
“Some people on the show thought when they were doing it that they’d become these megastars, but for me it was always: these are the people that pay my wages – this is my job at the end of the day.”
She adds: “They were so desperate to get something. When they’re filming 12 hours a day, time costs money.
“So, when it went bad, it went bad badly. They always tended to get enough for every series anyway.
“I was definitely not going to turn round to someone and be rude, just to get something on film.”
Jane, who left the aviation industry in 2017 and now runs her own speciality cake business, is keen to stress such a request was not a regular occurrence.
When asked if she was ever asked to fake a confrontation again, she says: “No, I don’t think they bloody well dared after that. Absolutely not.
“It was on a day where we had one runner, who wasn’t there very often. We used to work with the same people all the time and she was new.
“I probably complained to someone but we didn’t see her much after that.”
Jane’s career in the travel industry began in 1992 when she worked as a holiday rep on the island of Lanzarote.
Moving back to the UK in 1996, she worked her way up the ranks; from check-in agent to a trainer and dispatcher, then a passenger service manager and finally an operations and start up manager.
It was painful and it was embarrassing because everyone was looking
Jane Boulton, 53
Viewers loved Jane’s tell-it-like-it-is approach to customer service when passengers would turn up too late for their flights or forget their passports and demand special treatment.
But things could sometimes turn too nasty for television, Jane confesses.
“We’d had a train strike once, we knew we’d have a lot of latecomers and there was one gentleman who came running in,” she says.
“He was really late, he’d got himself into such a state before worrying about it and his emotions turned to anger.
“He literally spat at me, picked up his suitcase screaming: ‘No, no, no’ and threw his suitcase at my shins.
“It was painful and it was embarrassing because everyone was looking.
“That was one of the occasions where I did go off and have a little bit of a breakdown in the toilets. Then I sorted myself out and came back out.”
Speaking about the regular blistering confrontations, Jane adds: “There were some days we’d have major disruption, severe fog or snow, or there were train strikes and we’d have 100 passengers miss their flights.
“Check-in would tell them no, the ticket desk would tell them no, and then the buck stopped with me.
“By the time I came along, they thought it was their last chance and you’d get a lot of screaming and shouting.
“There were days when all of us would go to the staff room, have a little bit of a cry, let it out, put your lipstick back on, and we’d have a sign on the door that said ‘smile you’re on camera’ – not for the camera crew but for the passengers. We’re all human and sometimes it was awful.”
But thankfully it wasn’t all squabbling and drama. Jane says the team at EasyJet felt like “family” and there were lots of good times on the job too.
Jane says: “You’d have bags that would go through X-ray that were called a level 4 – that’s when if something comes up that the machine isn’t happy with, it’ll get sent back.
“So we’d have to call the passenger back, we’d open it in front of them so security can check the contents to make sure it was safe.’
I once had a gentleman going to Amsterdam – one of these really posh businessmen – and his bag was vibrating
Jane Boulton, 53
“I once had a gentleman going to Amsterdam – one of these really posh businessmen – and his bag was vibrating.
“We’d ask the common question: ‘Do you have an electric toothbrush in there? An alarm clock?’
“But when they opened his bag up it was full of sex toys and gimp masks! I didn’t know where to put my face.
“When they pulled out the biggest thing I’d ever seen in my life. I said: ‘Oh my God.’
“He said: ‘You’re quite shocked.’
“After that whenever there was a level 4 bag and they’d say it was vibrating, I’d always pick a different member of staff to go down because I always knew what it would be.
“They’d be so embarrassed – they’d come back and go: ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe that!’”
As the show took off – garnering 10 million viewers on ITV – Jane’s fame skyrocketed.
She says: “At that time you couldn’t go anywhere without being recognised.
“People going through your trolley, people waiting by your car in the car park after a late shift, some of it was a bit scary, but most of it was lovely.
“One time I’d gone to the bathroom to have a wee and a woman shoved her small child underneath the door because it was quite high off the floor, and asked me if I was Jane. It was mad.”
Over the years, Jane has worked at most of the major airports in the UK, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Newcastle, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester.
So it’s no surprise that she has rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous as they jetted off around the world.
“Richard Branson was always just so wonderfully friendly,” Jane says.
“Jeremy Beadle, I was so chuffed to see him. I remember when Leo Sayer came through and asked if I wanted his autograph. I said my dad would love it – I think I might have offended him.
“The Hollyoaks cast would fly with us every Friday. They were no different to you or I but some were nicer than others.
“There were a couple who wanted to be treated differently. But I’d always say EasyJet is one class, and that’s first class. If you want to be treated differently, you’d better fly with someone else.
“We had one celebrity in particular who wouldn’t take her sunglasses off to check her passport, because we weren’t supposed to know who she was.
I wouldn’t be able to hold my tongue, I don’t think. I’d be highly entertaining
Jane Boulton, 53
“I can’t tell you who – she’s still well known. She used the typical cringe ‘do you know who I am’ line, I couldn’t believe anyone used it until she did. She was a model.”
These days Jane is happily married to husband Jonathan Lee, 44, who works in cable and data engineering.
The pair live near Gatwick airport in East Sussex with their three children, Olivia, 15, and twins, Lauren and Alana, 13.
Her cake business is thriving – but she wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to do more TV work.
She says: “I’d be up for anything like I’m A Celebrity. I think there was a hashtag on TikTok, #GetJaneintheJungle.
“I’d be hilarious, I wouldn’t have people arguing over cooking bloody dinner, I’d be getting on with it.
“I’d try to be nice and make sure everyone calms down if it kicks off, but if people are being stupid I would tell them: ‘Come on, sort it out’.
“I wouldn’t be able to hold my tongue, I don’t think. I’d be highly entertaining.”
But what about Airline, the iconic show where it all began? Jane pours cold water on the idea it could make a sensational comeback to our screens.
“When Stelios [Haji-Ioannou, the founder of EasyJet] left, there’d never be a new series,” she says.
“Everyone that made that programme has moved on. They’re doing other things. It wouldn’t be the same.
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“And I think as well, with check in, it’s all bag drop offs. Before everyone checked in and you’d always have face to face interaction and that doesn’t exist now, unfortunately.
“But face to face interaction is what made the job great. It wouldn’t be the same now.”