A drunk Jet2 passenger proposed to an air hostess and told his fellow flyers to prepare for World War III, a court has been told.
Matthew Taylor, 30, who was travelling from Leeds Bradford to Alicante, was arrested late last month over the tirade.
Taylor pleaded guilty to entering an aircraft while drunk at Leeds Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
The court was told how he asked Brooke Crossley, a senior flight attendant, to marry him as he boarded the aircraft.
Staff then made a decision to keep an eye on him.
Prosecuting, Sarah Quirie said: “When the flight took off all were asked to remain seated, and from where she was sitting Miss Crossley could see the defendant was turning round in his seat and being loud.
The drunk Jet2 passenger proposed to an air hostess and told his fellow flyers to prepare for World War III
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PA“When it was safe to do so, she approached him, at which point the defendant took off his seatbelt. He was asked to sit back down but he refused to do so.
“And with wide bloodshot eyes and a puffed-out chest he said: ‘You can’t tell me what to do.'”
Cabin crew then tried to reason with Taylor – telling him of how there were families with children aboard.
But, the court heard, he continued to argue with his fellow flyers.
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The flight was forced to wait on the tarmac for hours after Taylor’s tirade
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He went on to tell air stewardess Millie Campbell: “You can’t f***ing tell me what to do.”
Ms Campbell said she felt “scared for her safety” and that of others on board while Taylor’s behaviour “gradually escalated”.
The flight then had to turn around just 100 miles from where it had set off, and was soaring above Leicester when the “disruptive incident” took place.
As it U-turned, the inebriated 30-year-old shouted: “You’d better get ready for World War III.”
Footage on board showed how Taylor taunted his fellow passengers – before they ended up cheering as police escorted him away.
A fiery statement from Jet2 at the time confirmed he had been handed a six-month ban from flying with the airline.
A spokesman branded his behaviour “appalling”, and added: “As a family-friendly airline, we take a zero-tolerance approach to disruptive passenger behaviour.”
The aircraft itself was forced to sit on the tarmac for hours – eventually taking off at 11pm.
Taylor will be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on September 29.
