This is the moment passengers on a Jet2 flight erupted into applause as police detained a man after a row with others onboard saw the flight to Alicante diverted back to the UK.
The incident happened on a Jet2 flight which had taken off as normal at 6.41pm last night to fly 1,100 miles to the Spanish resort of Alicante.
But the Boeing 737 had only made it 100 miles from Leeds Bradford to Leicester when the captain announced he was turning around due to ‘a disruptive incident on board’.
The man, who was wearing an orange T shirt and jeans, was led away by uniformed police after the furore on the flight to the Costa Blanca – which ended up delaying as many as 188 other passengers by four hours.
The plane safely touched back down at Leeds airport where it had taken off from just 40 minutes earlier.
Video clips taken by other passengers showed a man standing up in the aisle and seemingly remonstrating with holidaymakers including a woman who had jumped out of her seat a few rows away from him after the plane came to a standstill.
The man can be seen smirking as he stood in the aisle and told another passenger: ‘Put your phone down and fight one on one.’
As the man he was shouting at stood up to confront him, another chimed in and said: ‘You’ll get kicked off as well’.
The man taunted them by sticking his tongue out and beating his chest, as someone else on the plane shouted: ‘Don’t rise to it. Let him get chucked off.’
Police officers are then seen boarding the aircraft with passengers laughing as they said: ‘Look behind ya, lad! Look behind ya, big boy! You w****r!’
The rowdy man’s smug grin was quickly wiped off his face when he saw the cops coming towards him.
He is seen pointing and shouting at the officers, before quickly making a beeline for one of the men he was arguing with and appearing to square up to him, prompting people to shout: ‘Arrest him now!’.
The entire flight burst into cheers and applause as the man was finally detained and escorted off of the plane, with one yelling: ‘In a bit, lad!’.
Another clip taken through a window of the plane showed the man talking to three officers on the tarmac as one appeared to search him.
A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson has confirmed a 30-year-old man from Doncaster has been charged with entering an aircraft while drunk.
He has been bailed to appear before Leeds magistrates on Monday, September 8.
Jet2 is said to have sent passengers a message, saying: ‘We are sorry that flight LS491 Leeds Bradford to Alicante has diverted to Leeds Bradford due to a disruptive incident on board.
‘We are working on the situation and will update you shortly. This is an unscheduled change, so we’re doing everything we can to minimise any disruption to your onward journey. Thanks for your understanding and patience.’
The plane was forced to stay on the ground until it eventually took off again at 11.10pm, more than four hours after its scheduled departure time.
A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: ‘At 7.12pm yesterday, police were made aware of a flight which had been diverted from Birmingham to Leeds Bradford Airport due to a disturbance involving a passenger.
‘Officers attended and boarded the plane on its arrival at the airport. A man was arrested on suspicion of an offence under the Aviation Security Act 1982.’
A Jet2 spokesperson said: ‘We can confirm that a disruptive passenger has received a six-month flying ban with us, following their appalling behaviour which led to flight LS491 from Leeds Bradford to Alicante having to return to Leeds Bradford so that police could offload them.
‘As a family friendly airline, we take a zero-tolerance approach to disruptive passenger behaviour.’
Disruptive plane passengers risk large fines and the threat of possible criminal charges or even a prison sentence.
The aviation watchdog, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), says disruptive passengers could be made to pay the cost of diverting a plane, which could easily exceed £10,000.
