Ryanair staff were forced to strap an “unruly” passenger to his seat using spare belts after he refused to sit down during landing, onlookers said.
The passenger on the flight from Manchester to Rhodes was shouting at cabin crew who confiscated two bottles of booze from him and refused to serve him alcohol, onlookers said.
He refused to sit down during landing – escaping from restraints – forcing the pilot to abort the descent, circle round, and land again.
Rhodes police were called on to the flight upon landing to take the man off the plane, on April 3.
Video shows staff and other passengers huddled around the man and a member of staff shouting: “Sit down, now”, as well as police officers appearing to escort the man down the aisle upon landing.
Emily, 26, witnessed the incident and captured footage of the man.
She said: “The flight was going completely fine until the cabin crew came up to me and my partner at the front of the plane and asked us if we were travelling together and if we could be separated because a little girl needed to come down to the front of plane with her dad because a man was being disruptive.
“We were together so they asked someone else instead who moved and that’s when I got made aware of this guy being really disruptive at the back of the plane.
“The crew had to get two spare seatbelts and tried pinning him down on the seat.
“He got out of the seat again. Staff were shouting at him, telling him to sit down and he was squaring up to staff.
“He had already had two bottles of alcohol confiscated off him.”
She added that air staff had warned over the intercom that anyone caught drinking alcohol purchased at Duty Free before the flight would be apprehended by police upon landing unless they put it away, in which case no further action would be taken.
Emily said: “As we were supposed to come down to land I could hear cabin crew shout at him to sit down.
“We had to go back up to circle the island until he would sit down again which was quite scary.
“Once he had landed we all had to stay put while police came up to take him off. He got taken off on his own. It was eventful.”
A spokeswoman for Ryanair said: “The crew of this flight from Manchester to Rhodes on April 3 called ahead for police assistance after a passenger became disruptive onboard. The aircraft was met by local police upon arrival at Rhodes Airport and this passenger was removed.
“Ryanair has a strict zero tolerance policy towards passenger misconduct and will continue to take decisive action to combat unruly passenger behaviour, ensuring that all passengers and crew travel in a safe and respectful environment, without unnecessary disruption.
“This is a matter for local police.”
