A heroic Ryanair passenger has described acting as ‘security’ on a horror UK flight to Lanzarote.
Stuart Wilson, 52, said he stepped in to help after a drunk 6ft 3ins man woke up and ‘went bananas’ on the Ryanair flight from Manchester Airport to the Spanish island on July 1.
He said that the intoxicated man, who was sitting in an aisle seat next to his girlfriend, knocked her glasses off her head and repeatedly punched the baggage bins, ceiling, armrests and the seat in front of him.
‘This guy was roaring, calling his girlfriend a s***, a slapper, a w***e. He kept calling her a w***e,’ a shocked Mr Wilson told the Irish Independent.
He added that the woman’s friends, who had been drinking and vaping on the flight, gave her ‘more vodka, trying to calm her down’.
Stuart Wilson, 52, said he stepped in to help after a drunk 6ft 3ins man woke up and ‘went bananas’ on the Ryanair flight from Manchester Airport to the Spanish island on July 1 (file image of a Ryanair plane)
The farmer from Dunfanaghy, a rural village in the Irish county Donegal, said that the girlfriend was ‘inconsolable’ and crying while the man was ‘roaring abuse at her and wouldn’t sit down’.
‘Everyone was trying to get him to stop. There were kids on the plane and an older person. People were crying, they were so upset,’ Mr Wilson told the outlet.
He said he decided to step in and stood in front of the 220lb man, telling him: ‘No one is getting touched on this plane.’
He said that staff eventually managed to remove the man from his seat to sit him down in the back of the aircraft – but the man managed to come back.
‘[He] got into a conflict with one of the other men. He pushed his head into another man’s head hard, so hard the other man fell over,’ the Irishman said.
‘I’m not security, I was a passenger on a flight,’ Mr Wilson said about having to intervene, adding that he had to become ‘air security’ to ‘try to control the situation’.
The mid-flight ordeal lasted about an hour, according to Mr Wilson, who said it was unbelievable that the man was allowed to walk off the plane when it landed in Lanzarote without being arrested.
But Mr Wilson said he saw two men beating the crazed passenger, who ended up with a bandaged head and alleged broken ribs.
Other passengers thanked the 52-year-old for stepping in, including the man’s girlfriend.
Ryanair said in a statement: ‘A pair of passengers on this flight from Manchester to Lanzarote (July 1) became disruptive inflight.
‘Crew defused the situation and moved one of the disruptive passengers to the other end of the aircraft for the remainder of the flight, which landed in Lanzarote as scheduled without any further disruption.
The mid-flight ordeal lasted about an hour, according to Mr Wilson, who said it was unbelievable that the man was allowed to walk off the plane when it landed in Lanzarote without being arrested (file image)
‘We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of these passengers’ unruly behaviour.’
The spokesperson added: ‘Ryanair is pleased to support this Irish aviation industry declaration to combat unruly passenger behaviour on aircraft.
‘The safety and wellbeing of our crew and passengers is Ryanair’s No.1 priority and we try to eradicate unruly behaviour onboard our aircraft.
‘We will continue to work closely with An Garda Síochána, the IAA, Irish Airports and the wider aviation industry to eliminate all forms of unruly behaviour in airport terminals and onboard our aircraft.’
It is understood that the crew on board did not witness passengers consuming their own alcohol or vaping on board, as outlined by Mr Wilson.
