Drunk JetBlue passenger held down by fellow flyers after becoming aggressive as girlfriend begs him to stop
A British JetBlue passenger had to be restrained by four fellow travelers when he became inebriated and abusive toward the cabin crew on a recent flight to New York, video showed.
The fracas went down on Tuesday during a flight from Gatwick Airport to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.
In the footage, the aggressive man can be seen struggling against four other men who are trying to hold him still in the darkened cabin aisle.
A woman — believed to be the drunk man’s girlfriend — begged one of the men to remove their hands from his face.
“Please get that off of his face,” she pleaded.
“I can’t just leave him,” the man replied as the drunken passenger continued to struggle.
“No, no, no, listen, don’t tell me to stop,” the woman shot back.
Eventually, another passenger told her to “move back now.”
“Ben, Ben, stop fighting them. Stop fighting them,” she pleaded with her belligerent boyfriend.
When the intoxicated man tried again to escape, one of the four holding him down warned the others, “Right, take him down.”
The woman then could be heard saying “no” before collapsing into sobs.
The group of four then managed to move the man down the aisle toward where two cabin crew members were.
“Jesus Christ!” another passenger cried out, while another could be heard saying “what the f–k” as the troubling scene moved past.
At one point, one man appeared to reassure a child by saying, “Don’t worry, I’m right here.”
“The men from the back of the plane came down to assist. They eventually tackled him to the floor,” said Grant Saunders, a hypnotist who was on board the chaotic flight.
“The man was drunk and was getting loud and aggressive, moving seats. Then when the crew asked him to calm down, he started getting worse. Then he started wandering about the aisle, the crew asked him to sit in his seat and he then started getting aggressive,” he recalled.
“I felt sorry for elderly couples who were sitting around where it was happening. The lads got a round of applause as they left,” Saunders added.
Another passenger, Nick, also commended the men for intervening.
“They managed to restrain him and prevent the flight from being diverted and causing major disruption to the passengers and crew,” he said.
“Due to their brave and brilliant efforts, the flight landed without further incident. They need to be recognized by the airline,” he concluded.
The flight crew found “an opened bottle of liquor” the drunk man had brought on board, a JetBlue spokesperson told The Post Wednesday.
“For everyone’s safety, the customer was restrained with the assistance of other customers who were witnessing this threatening behavior. The flight landed safely at New York’s JFK Airport where it was met by law enforcement who took over the situation,” the statement continued.
“We appreciate our customers’ assistance and understanding during this incident and apologize for the experience. Further inquiries should be directed to law enforcement.”
