Man on Ethihad flight strapped to his seat with cable ties by fellow passengers

A male passenger allegedly attacked a flight attendant on an Etihad flight EY469 from Abu Dhabi to Australia after he was told he wasn't allowed to smoke on the plane.

The incident forced fellow passengers to restrain the man and he was tied to his seat using cable ties until the plane landed in Melbourne.

The man, believed to be in his 20s, was then arrested by Australian Federal Police man at Tullamarine Airport.

Speaking to the Brisbane Times, a Melbourne woman returning from a holiday in England said: 'There was a lot of screaming, shouting and it was terrifying. There were about six or seven men who held him down and then the crew supplied cable ties to tie him to a seat in the last row.'

I wonder what would have happened if the chaos had caused the pilot to make an emergency landing.....just because a passenger was denied smoking!