Passenger Allegedly Grabs Flight Attendant By Throat After Drinking Entire Bottle of Whiskey

An Easyjet Airbus A319-111 aircraft lands at El Prat airport in Barcelona on July 1, 2022. A drunk passenger on an Easyjet flight allegedly grabbed a flight attendant by her throat after drinking an entire bottle of whiskey. (Photo: PAU BARRENA/AFP via Getty Images)

A drunk passenger on an Easyjet flight grabbed a flight attendant by her throat after drinking a liter bottle of whisky during a flight from Malta to Manchester, England, according to British tabloid The Sun.

Colin Smith, 51, attempted to strike the flight attendant before being stopped by fellow passengers, one of whom put Smith in a headlock, The Sun reported.

Per The Sun, Smith “lost it” when the flight attendant told him to stop clambering over other people to get to the toilet as the plane descended.

According to The Sun, James Gore, prosecuting, said: “He looked at her with a vacant stare and without any warning or provocation he grabbed her by the throat. He continued to lash out … and he would have hit her if he had not been restrained.”

Smith admitted to being drunk assault and being drunk on the Malta to Manchester flight, per The Sun.

Smith, of Hull, England, will be sentenced at crown court at a later date.

Easyjet allows liquid only in 100-milliliter or smaller containers to cross through security, so it seems likely that Smith purchased the liter whiskey bottle at the airport. The Easyjet alcohol policy says that alcohol purchased in the airport can be brought into the cabin — so long as it’s unopened and below 70% ABV. The policy further reads: “It’s strictly forbidden to drink any alcohol that has not been purchased on board the aircraft and those found consuming their own alcohol may face prosecution.”

Smith, then, clearly violated the latter part of this policy by consuming what was presumably his own alcohol while on the plane — unless he somehow nicked the bottle from the flight attendants — which is unlikely since planes typically carry miniature bottles of alcohol, not full-sized ones.

This is far from the first instance of booze-fueled stupidity from a rowdy passenger on a flight. In April, a Delta passenger was arrested by the FBI after hurling homophobic slurs and ice at a flight attendant who wouldn’t serve him a second alcoholic beverage. In September, a plane had to make an emergency landing after an elderly flier who was denied free champagne attacked flight attendants.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines suspended alcohol on flights due to drinking passengers becoming rowdy over mask mandates.

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