A British father and son chased their flight down a runway after missing final call boarding announcements from an airport bar.
Antonino Loi, 65, and Tony Loi, 40, had been drinking at Cagliari Airport in Sardinia, when they missed their easyJet flight to London, an airport police officer said.
The pair then escaped through an emergency exit before bolting down the runway, followed by armed police, the Mirror reports.
Tony, from London, said he thought police chasing after them would mean the plane crew would be informed, and they would be able to board
But he said it was a "different case altogether".
Tony told the Sun : "My dad saw an easyJet plane outside and then saw that boarding was shut.
"I ran downstairs towards the plane, I thought the stairs to the plane were still there, so I basically exited a door that put an alarm off.
"To be honest, I actually thought the police officer was going to radio the plane and tell them to make an exception and let us off but, it was the opposite, a different case altogether."
The pair were then hauled back to the airport before being taken to a room and told they would receive a hefty fine.
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They were fined 2,000 euros each (£1,770) as a result of the incident.
Tony claims they were not drunk during the ordeal.
Airport police officer Mimmo Bari said the scene was like something from a comedy show - although said in a stricter country, the pair ran the risk of "being shot".
In a statement, easyJet said: "We can confirm that two passengers were not allowed to travel on flight EZY3204 from Cagliari to London Stansted having arrived late to the gate.
"They were subsequently arrested by the police as a result of behaving disruptively. The safety and wellbeing of passengers, crew and ground staff is always our priority.
"Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour."
