Aer Lingus flight EI120 was severely disrupted on Friday morning after a passenger became verbally abusive to staff on the aircraft.
The altercation took place on a flight from Orlando to Dublin Airport on March 22 with the man becoming difficult just two hours into the 12 hour journey.
Things became so problematic that the man had to be hogtied by Aer Lingus crew and two passengers that were on board at the time.
At one stage during the long haul flight, there was a suggestion that the plane would have to turn around and land somewhere in Canada airport.
A passenger on the flight - who happened to be related to the two passengers who helped crew restrain the man - told Dublin Live that Airport security and Gardai were there to meet the disruptive American when they landed in Dublin Airport.
Gail Hilliard Dawsy said: "He was a jerk. Gardai told me that he would be in a world of shit and most likely would never be able to return to Ireland again, certainly not with Aer Lingus."
The eye witness said that the man seemed to be "drunk" and began hassling Aer Lingus crew very early on in the flight.
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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 some point, put his hands on a flight attendant.
"Our family is law enforcement and two of our guys assisted in restraining him."
Jeff Dawsy and David Decarlo were the officers involved in the restraining.
Jeff is a retired sheriff while David currently works for a central Florida agency and they are both former SWAT team members.
It was made known by flight attendants that if the man could not be controlled, they would not be landing in Dublin Airport.
Gail continued: "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.
"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 Aer Lingus plane landed in Dublin Airport, the pilot informed passengers that there had been an incident and that the plane was being met by security and Gardai.
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Gail concluded: "I really don’t think a lot of people on the flight were aware of anything.
"I recognised one of the Gardai at the airport and chatted with him.
"He said he would be held until his arraignment in front of a judge and he would possibly not be able to return to Ireland in the future. He also added that Aer Lingus would ban him for sure.
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In a statement to Dublin Live, Gardai said: "A 30-year-old man was arrested at Dublin Airport last Friday 22nd March 2019 after disembarking a flight from Orlando, USA.
"The man was arrested under Section 48 State Airport Act 2014 and conveyed to Ballymun Garda Station."
In a statement, Aer Lingus told Dublin Live: "Aer Lingus does not comment on individual cases.
"Aer Lingus confirms that the safety and security of our guests and colleagues is always our number one priority.”
