Passenger Tackled, Restrained After Fight With Crew Mid-Air On Emirates Flight

A flight attendant on a Dubai-Islamabad flight had to restrain an unruly passenger with cable ties, as seen in a widely-circulating video on social media. The incident took place on Sunday afternoon on an Emirates flight and the man was allegedly drunk and "extremely violent", according to Newsweek that quoted a person on board. He was tackled to the ground by the cabin crew before being restrained. Another video clip shows the man detained in an airport wheelchair, but the exact whereabouts are not known.

"This happened in Dubai flight to Islamabad this morning. Sent by a passenger who remained terrified during the flight: "Drunk guy extremely violent. Restrained and handcuffed by emirates cabin crew but I think Pak authorities let him go as he was well connected"," Pakistani journalist Amir Mateen said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) while sharing the video.

Reports suggest,a Drunk and unruly passenger onboard an Emirates Boeing B777-300ER aircraft operating a flight from Dubai (DXB) to Islamabad (ISB) created chaotic situation inflight,which forced the Emirates crew to restrain him & fasten his hands for rest of the flight.#unruly pic.twitter.com/JbKzZ6ZtZc

— FL360aero (@fl360aero) February 25, 2024

He also claimed that the man was allowed to leave and questioned Emirates about it.

In the now-viral video, the man is seen attempting a headbutt a male member of the flight crew who pushes him to the floor with the help of another crew member.

The video then shows the man being held on the floor by two male members of the crew while two female flight attendants appear to restrain his legs with cable ties.

Several such incidents have been reported in the past few months. Early in February, two men were detained after a fight broke out between them mid-air on a Southwest Airlines flight from California to Hawaii.

Then in December, a man was detained after he tried to punch police officers on Spirit Airlines flight from Colombia to Miami. Weeks before that, a passenger attacked a flight attendant on a flight from Miami to New York, leaving her in a pool of blood.