A ‘drunk’ passenger was escorted down the aisle and bundled off a plane when it landed in Portugal after he was verbally abusive during the flight.
The man, who was said to have been part of a stag party, was seen repeatedly downing what is thought to have been a mixture of vodka and Red Bull before allegedly abusing fellow passengers and the crew.
When the Ryanair flight from Dublin to Faro landed, the passenger was escorted from the jet by Portuguese police on the afternoon of May 2.
In video footage taken by a fellow passenger, officers from the airport police were seen trying to get the man’s boarding pass and bag, but he seemed unable to understand what was happening.
One officer repeatedly asked him where his bag was and once he located his passport was forcibly ejected from the aircraft.
He repeatedly asked ‘what is happening’ as another passenger tried to help the officer.
Passengers saw the man being escorted from the Ryanair flight from Dublin after it landed in Faro. He was seen being pushed down the aisle by Portuguese police
It is thought he was part of a large stag group heading to the Algarve for the Bank Holiday weekend.
During the flight he was allegedly abusive to a hen party on the same flight and began arguing with staff when they tried to get him to sit down.
Deborah Martin, a marketing consultant, who was on board the jet flying from Dublin to Faro for the long weekend said the man continued to down alcohol even after the crew tried to make him to stop.
She said: ‘As soon as we took off they [the stag group] were drinking. They seemed quite drunk before we even got on the plane. I thought it was whisky, but another passenger told me it was vodka and Red Bull.
‘One guy was out of his mind. He was screaming and shouting and being abusive. He was arguing and swearing with another hen party that was on board.
‘He didn’t know his own name, he didn’t understand what was going on when the police arrive, he didn’t know where his boarding pass was, he was comatose.
‘But they had their own stash of drink so he still had a plastic cup in his hand and was downing it in one go. He had about four drinks as we were coming into land.
‘To be fair most of his group were well-behaved and were trying to calm him down and get him to sit down and shut up.’
A Portuguese police officer was seen grabbing the man by his neck and pushing him towards the exit of the plane
One passenger said the man ‘didn’t know his own name’ or ‘understand what was going on’ when police boarded the jet and tried to talk to him
Many of the other passengers were intimated by the drunken antics and Ms Martin said she feared the plane would be diverted to another airport.
Ms Martin also said Faro, near Albufeira, has become a popular destination for stag and hen parties over the last few years.
She added: ‘There was a family with a young boy and another with a disabled girl and they had never seen anything like it.
‘There were a lot of people waiting to use the bathroom, it meant the crew couldn’t get the trolley out.
‘The drunk passengers were trying to buy more alcohol from the crew before they started serving drinks.
‘The crew were brilliant, they tried to calm him down and get him to sit quietly.
‘But despite the warning he carried on and they had to notify the captain and the police got involved. I thought we were going to have to be diverted.
‘It really wasn’t a nice experience for anyone else on the plane, it was very intimidating for a lot of passengers, some were clearly frightened.
‘Something really needs to be done to stop people flying again if they keep doing this sort of thing, otherwise it will keep happening.’
Ryanair said the man was ‘removed and detained’ after becoming disruptive during the flight but did not effect the landing.
A spokesman said: ‘This flight from Dublin to Faro (May 2) requested police assistance upon landing after a passenger became disruptive in-flight.
‘The aircraft landed normally and police and removed and detained this individual.
‘The safety and comfort of our customers, crew and aircraft is our number one priority. This is now a matter for local police.’
Portuguese police said the incident had been reported to the prosecutor at the Court of Faro for a decision on whether to charge the passenger.