Man repeatedly kicks seat during flight before he’s tied up by passengers

A man was tied up by airplane passengers after he repeatedly kicked a seat during a flight.

Usually the in-flight annoyance is a passenger sat behind you kicking the back of your seat, maybe even poking their toes through the gap, as they try to get comfy.

Sometimes, the person in front of you reclines their seat just a little too far, eating up your leg room.

But video footage from a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Austin shows a passenger stood on the seat, ramming the back of it flat with his foot.

Passengers watched on in silence before intervening to bind him to a seat with zip ties and a seatbelt.

The United Airlines flight has almost finished its three-and-a-half-hour flight from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, when the incident occurred on November 16.

Gino Galofaro, who filmed the footage, said: ‘I restrained him and two other passengers were already getting zip ties so we zip tied his hands and feet and seat belted him to the seat.

‘We were 40 minutes from LAX. Police came onboard when we landed.’

The addiction counsellor, who runs Hope Interventions treatment service in San Diego, said he hopes to contact the man’s family to offer help.

There were 76 passengers and five crew members on board at the time.

A spokesperson said: ‘On November 16, local law enforcement met United flight 502 upon arrival at Los Angeles International Airport after a customer became disruptive.

‘We thank our crew for helping address the situation and working to ensure the safety of everyone on board.

‘We’ve banned this customer from future United flights.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.