Drunk passengers force plane to turn back after insulting crew, threatening to bite officers

Bite or flight?

A Jet2 flight was forced to turn back after a drunken passenger named Lewis Howarth staggered in the aisle and called a flight attendant a “d-kh-d” for telling him to fasten his seat belt, among other things. Details of the rampage emerged at a hearing at Manchester Royal Magistrates’ Court.

“I will never understand why people think that behavior like this is appropriate. It can never be justified,” one of the arresting officers named PC Morton told the court, The Cavendish Press reported.

The incident happened on August 29 on board a flight which was scheduled to fly from Manchester to Dalaman, Turkey, but was delayed by 90 minutes, the court heard.

Howarth, 36, had been drinking heavily in the departure lounge before boarding and his drunken state set off alarm bells among crew members, according to prosecutor Gareth Hughes.

Noticing his seatbelt was not on, a flight attendant told him to do so, but the Manchester native failed to fasten it in his drunken state.

“He was slurring his words and swearing, his pupils were dilated and his co-ordination was very poor and he was unable to put on his seat belt,” Hughes told the court.

After informing the captain of the incident, the flight attendant continued to speak to the lout.

That’s when the situation seriously deteriorated. “He got out of his seat and called it ‘dhd’ and was asked to sit down and told it could be removed,” Hughes recounted, noting that the plane was making its way from the runway to the gate at this point.

However, the passenger reportedly stood up and got in her face, at which point the captain decided to return to the gate and remove the hooligan.

When the police boarded the plane, they were greeted with applause from the grateful passengers, but the ordeal was not over.

At that moment, Howarth, who was in the back of the plane, stood up only to be tripped and immediately have to grab a seat to stand. One of the officers tried to escort him off the plane, but he told authorities to “f–k off you pr–k.”

Due to the British man’s aggressive behavior, the authorities decided to restrain him with one officer grabbing his neck and the other holding his arms from behind. Despite being curled up in a pretzel, Howarth still poked his head at passengers sitting in their seats, the Cavendish Press reported.

To prevent a head-on collision, the officers lifted him up and carried him horizontally like a battering ram, before handcuffing Hellion to the bridge. They then used a wheelchair to carry him to a waiting police van at the airport.

On the way to the transport, Howarth threatened to bite officer Ben Morton and tried to sink his teeth into his hand. He also managed to kick another officer in the mouth, which fortunately did not cause serious injury as he was wearing socks despite temporarily injuring his mouth and teeth.

The officer then punched Howarth in the stomach to stop the attack.

Interestingly, Howarth didn’t seem to feel much remorse for his actions.

He then flew to Turkey on another airline the next day with his partner and children, and even joked about the ordeal on Facebook, quipping: “Okay, let’s try this again. Just a Coke this time.”

FB photos taken from Howarth’s vacation show him riding a jet ski, boating and even cuddling camels.

Its relief may be short-lived.

During the court hearing, the defendant was told he could serve two years in prison after pleading guilty to being drunk on an airplane, common assault on an emergency worker and assault by beating.

Bozo has also been blacklisted by Jet2.

“As a family-friendly airline, we take a zero-tolerance approach to disruptive passenger behavior and can confirm that Mr. Howarth has been banned from flying with us forever,” an airline representative said.