Shocking footage shows the moment a drunk passenger became embroiled in a confrontation with British Airways staff, leading to his arrest.
The man was on board a packed plane travelling from London’s Heathrow Airport to Las Vegas via Flight BA275 and sitting in the long-haul business class cabin Club World, where tickets can cost up to £7,000.
Carrying over 300 passengers, the aircraft was approaching the runway for takeoff when the man grew agitated and rose from his seat.
A female crew member bravely stepped in to try to calm him, but he would not listen.
Instead, he repeatedly ignored her demands for him to ‘stay seated, sir’ and ‘listen to instructions’ and became increasingly abusive, hurling expletives at staff and fellow flyers.
The man was informed that he would be ‘restrained’ if he continued to cause trouble and was pushed back several times to his chair.
She warned him: ‘If I have to tell you again, I will be restraining you, sir, if you do not stay seated.’
However, the boozed-up male’s actions resulted in takeoff having to be aborted with seconds to go.
Surrounded by officers and handcuffed, he was taken well away from the Airbus A350, with footage making its way to social media soon after.
Sharing a clip on Instagram, @bou_dnb documented the ‘breakdown’ in a post liked over 170,000 times.
After getting to his own seat, he recalled that ‘all I could hear was a load of noise coming from the back from some drunken idiot’.
‘Fair play to the air hostess here, because she absolutely held it down,’ he praised alongside the video of the stewardess physically intervening without once backing away, then calling for her to be given a raise.
In the comments, @viralvideo.club also declared her ‘an absolute hero’, while @tjalife added: ‘I hope she gets all the recognition she deserves’.
‘She was fearless,’ @adonakis55 wrote.
Addressing the incident, a spokesperson for British Airways told : ‘Disruptive or abusive behaviour is never tolerated on board, and the safety of our customers and crew is our highest priority.
‘When these incidents occur, the appropriate action will always be taken.’
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson confirmed to us that officers were called out following ‘reports of a passenger being disruptive on an outbound plane’ at around 5.30pm on Thursday, August 6.
‘The plane returned to the terminal to allow officers to board the plane.’
Identifying the man, they continued: ‘Emmet Moynihan, 31 (10.03.1995) of Mount Vernon, Cork, Ireland, was charged on Friday, 7 August, with being drunk on an aircraft and disobeying the orders of the captain.
‘He has been bailed to appear at Uxbridge Magistrates Court on Wednesday, 26 August.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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