A DRUNK Brit has been arrested after brawling onboard his flight to Alicante and trying to open the plane’s door mid-flight.
Spanish cops were waiting on the tarmac and got the 28-year-old who was reportedly so intoxicated he didn’t realise the plane was still in the air.
GettyA drunk Brit passenger was arrested after trying to open the plane door mid-flight[/caption]
Passengers helped the crew to restrain him during a brawl in which he became abusive and “compromised flight safety”.
The incident happened on Thursday on board an EasyJet flight which had left Gatwick airport for Alicante-Elche in Spain, according to Spanish newspaper Informacion.es
The Brit had already been disturbing the other passengers with his drunken behaviour.
As it neared its destination, the man is said to have tried to open a door to “get off quicker” and did not even realise the aircraft was not on the ground.
By this stage, the pilot had called the control tower to request the presence of the Civil Guard on touch-down.
“According to the sources to which Informacion has had access, the commander contacted the Alicante control tower to warn them that they had a drunk traveller on board, whom they had had to immobilise with the help of the passenger for compromising the flight safety on several occasions,” the newspaper reports this morning.
“Apparently, the traveller boarded already drunk but his condition worsened during the flight, since the altitude enhances the effects of alcohol. At one point, he got into a fight with other travellers, whom he attacked after insulting and provoking them. When the company’s onboard personnel intervened, he also tried to hit them,” said Informacion.e
“And not only that. In the midst of a brawl, he tried to open the plane door to get off, without being aware that they were in mid-flight, and then tried to access the cabin. Finally, the passenger helped the crew to immobilise him and, as soon as the aircraft landed in El Altet, the Civil Guard entered and detained him.”
Alicante airport is one of the ones that registers the most conflicts with passengers. Last year alone there were 184 complaints – only Tenerife Sur-Reina Sofía was ahead, with 189.
“The vast majority were carried out, as in this case, by drunk travellers from the United Kingdom,” according to Informacion.es.