Ryanair flight chaos as crying baby triggers brawl and police board plane in Lisbon

It all started with a baby crying on the flight and ended with police boarding the flight to break up a vicious brawl.

A Ryanair flight from London Stansted to Lisbon descended into a mid-air melodrama just before 7pm yesterday evening, leaving children and onlookers terrified after passengers piled into the aisle with tempers boiling over upon touch down in Lisbon.

“It’s okay, we’re going now,” one mum was heard telling her child. Although judging by the scene on board, “going” was unfortunately not happening fast.

According to The Sun, the chaos kicked off once the plane had touched down after a long simmering irritation over a crying baby escalated into an all-out brawl between two passengers on board.

The narrow aisle was jammed with passengers, shoving and shouting as tempers hit the roof. Children’s cries cut through the commotion, adding to the rising panic on board.

Parents clutched their little ones close, trying to soothe them while keeping a wary eye on the escalating brawl — trapped in their seats with nowhere to go.

One man could be heard shouting and frantically searching for his lost glasses, swept away in the chaos. Airline crew were nowhere in sight, instead rushing to secure the cabin doors and call police to desperately intervene.

Police were called, and the cabin doors remained shut until the officers arrived to escort the two passengers off the aircraft.

Ryanair confirmed the drama, saying: “The crew of this flight from London Stansted to Lisbon (12 Aug) called for police assistance after two passengers became disruptive onboard.”

“The aircraft was met by local police, and these passengers were removed.”

The airline reiterated its “zero tolerance policy” for unruly behaviour, stressing that all passengers and crew deserve to travel “in a safe and respectful environment, without unnecessary disruption”.

This is not the first time that Ryanair has been at the centre of airport theatrics.

In July, a female passenger at Sofia Airport in Bulgaria collapsed into tears, crying on her knees, after being barred from a flight to Vienna.

Why? Her carry luggage exceeded the airline’s guidelines and was deemed too big to board without paying extra. The situation quickly escalated from a tense disagreement over measurements to a full-blown emotional scene in the departure area, drawing the attention of fellow travellers and airport staff alike.

Witnesses say that the woman screamed, sobbed and even banged on a door in frustration after refusing to pay the additional gate fee.

One onlooker described the outburst as “like something out of a soap opera”, with the woman’s voice carrying across the terminal as boarding for the flight was delayed.

Ryanair insists she was correctly charged under their Basic Fare policy, claiming she “became aggressive towards gate staff” and was denied boarding.

The airline later doubled down, pointing to its strict baggage rules as a cornerstone of its low-cost model.