The off-duty pilot, seen here in uniform, luckily had his ID and licence on him

Footage shows the hero dad, who was with his young son and wife, receive cheers as he took the PA to inform passengers he was due to take the controls.

Bradley said: "My wife who's on row 15 with my little boy - hopefully he's asleep by now.

"I should keep it down or else I'll get told off - she rolled over and punched me in the back of the head and said 'our flight's delayed by two hours because they are minus one captain for the flight'.

"So just before we went through security I thought I wonder if this is worth a phone call, I think it is because I'd like to go on holiday.

"I phoned up easyJet and said, 'Hiya, I'm standing in the terminal doing nothing.

"I have got my licence with me - deliberately from being punched in the back of the head at 3am - I have got my ID with me and I'd very much like to go on holiday and if you need a favour I'm standing here ready to go."

He added: "They said, 'We'll phone you back'. Thirty eight seconds later they phoned me back and said, 'Please, please pretty please with a big cherry on top, can you fly the aeroplane to Alicante?'

"So if you're alright for one of your pilots to look like this today, we'll go to Alicante."