The airline’s EZY1886 flight from Egypt to Manchester was supposed to take around six hours, but was heavily delayed by unscheduled stops in both Greece and then Italy.

One witness says cabin crew appeared ‘frightened’ by the man’s ‘aggressive’ behaviour, before they diverted to Athens, with those on board saying they were unable to buy food or drink from the trolley for eight hours.

Disabled passenger Lyndsey Konya – who believes the man involved was British and had children of his own on the plane – says he also ‘caused issues’ on their outbound flight, before being removed by Greek police during the return trip on New Year’s Day.

She branded the palaver – which saw the flight then break a curfew to land in Naples so staff could avoid exceeding legal operation hours – ‘horrible’ and ‘very stressful’.

One family even got off the plane at Naples to sleep at a family house instead of arriving in Manchester nearly four and a half hours late, Mrs Konya said.

Lyndsey, 37, who was travelling with husband Simon, 50, and children PJ, 13, and Mia, 12, explained: ‘They were serving the first trolley service as it happened and suddenly the attendant went into the cockpit and within minutes of coming back into the cabin the flight began to descend pretty fast, so we knew we were landing, but didn’t know where until the pilot announced that due to issues beyond their control we needed to land.

‘It was a horrible experience, being trapped for many hours on a plane not designed for long haul. The seats were very uncomfortable and it’s caused me extreme pain due to having spinal problems and being sat down for that length of time.’

Labelling the man ‘abusive’ and ‘aggressive’, she added: ‘There were lots of young children on board, including the children and baby of the man.

‘His poor partner was left on board with four young children.

‘It was disgusting behaviour.’

Lyndsey says family time is precious because her husband works in London as a senior construction manager while she remains at home in Middlesbrough unable to work due to poor health, which has been worsened by the ordeal.

An easyJet spokeswoman said: ‘We can confirm EZY1886 from Hurghada to Manchester diverted to Athens as a result of a passenger onboard behaving disruptively. The aircraft was met by police on arrival and the passenger was removed.

‘Unfortunately as a result of the diversion the crew were unable to operate the flight onto Manchester within their legal operating hours. In order to avoid an overnight delay the aircraft made an additional stop in Naples to pick up a replacement crew to operate the flight to Manchester.’

The flight departed Hurghada at 3.21pm British time, but landed in Athens at 6.06pm British time.

It left an hour and a half later, before stopping in Naples at 10.25pm British time. After an hour on the ground, it took off for a third time and finally landed at 3.08am in Manchester.

Lyndsey added: ‘I don’t know exactly what was said but the flight crew were frightened as they were talking about it when they were serving me drink and snacks.

‘When the man was removed he shouted an apology and said it was over nothing but going by how afraid the flight crew were I believe he was being aggressive.

‘The flight attendants were three ladies and a gentleman so don’t think they could have restrained him safely if he did become violent.’

‘Half the flight did not get served before we had to land so we all had no food or drink for eight hours after the trolley was put away and it was not brought out again.’

The easyJet spokeswoman continued: ‘easyJet’s cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time.

‘Whilst such incidents are rare, we take them very seriously, and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour on board.

‘Given his behaviour and the disruption caused, easyJet has since banned the customer from flying with us in the future.

‘The safety and well-being of customers and crew is our highest priority. We would like to thank passengers for their understanding.’