A “drunk” passenger had to have his wrists tied to his seat after causing chaos on a transatlantic flight from Florida.
The man was restrained after allegedly kicking up a fuss on an Aer Lingus jet from Orlando to Dublin last weekend.
Fellow passengers said the 30-year-old became difficult just two hours into the 10-hour journey, Dublin Live reports.
At one stage the crew considered turning the plane around and landing in Canada.
Passenger Gail Hilliard Dawsy told the Irish Mirror: “He was a jerk. Gardai told me he would be in a world of s**t and most likely would never be able to return to Ireland again, certainly not with Aer Lingus.”
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The witness said the man seemed to be drunk and began hassling crew.
She added: “He was from America and even had his family with him, I’m not sure why they didn’t try to intervene.
“He was being rude the whole time and at one point put his hands on a flight attendant.
“Our family is law enforcement and two of our guys assisted in restraining him.”
Retired sheriff Jeff Dawsy and former SWAT team member David Decarlo were the officers who tied the unruly passenger up.
Gail added: “The flight attendants basically said if we couldn’t get him under control we’d have to turn around and land, probably in Canada I guess, as I was looking at our flight path at the time knowing this was going to be a possibility.
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“The flight attendants had some kind of handcuffs or restraints and our guys were able to control him enough so they could restrain him. We heard nothing more from him during the flight.”
When the plane landed at Dublin Airport the pilot informed passengers there had been an incident and the aircraft was being met by officers.
Gardai said: “A 30-year-old man was arrested at Dublin Airport last Friday after disembarking a flight from Orlando.
“The man was arrested under Section 48 State Airport Act 2014 and conveyed to Ballymun Garda station.”
Aer Lingus was contacted for comment.
