An overweight passenger had to be physically removed from his first-class seat after it became clear he had become stuck after the plane landed.

The reportedly "mortified" man had enjoyed the food, wine and comfort of the £7,000 suite on the Nigeria to London flight

When the plane landed at Heathrow at 5am, he realised he was trapped in his seat and would need assistance to leave the plane.

The embarrassing ordeal then unfolded in front of hundreds of people disembarking following a six-and-a-half-hour British Airways flight on Sunday morning.

Members of the flight crew sprang into action to free the man while keeping him "calm" throughout.

The Sun reports that an engineering note written during the incident reads: “A volumetric passenger is stuck in seat 1A. The plan is to remove the suite door and use a hoist to eject [him] from the seat.” "Volumetric" in this context appears to be a euphemism for overweight.

A BA insider said the ordeal "sounded funny" but passengers felt "sorry" for the man who was clearly "mortified" by the "abject humiliation".

"It’s astonishing because the seats are the most spacious available," they told the Sun. "It was as embarrassing as it can get for him — especially when a door in the cabin had to be removed... Crew members did all they could to calm the man.”

The subject of larger passengers on planes is a contentious one. In May a TikTok of a woman being weighed before being allowed to board went viral, provoking heated debate over whether the airline was "cruel" or simply trying to keep to the aircraft's weight limit.

Last year Australian-American political commentator Sydney Watson claimed she was "sandwiched" between two 'overweight' travellers on a three-hour flight.

"I am currently - literally - wedged between two obese people on my flight," she wrote on Twitter alongside a photo of herself between the other passengers.

"This is absolutely NOT acceptable or okay. If fat people want to be fat, fine. But it is something else entirely when I'm stuck between you, with your arm rolls on my body, for 3 hours."

The official Twitter account of American Airlines responded: "Our passengers come in all different shapes and sizes. We're sorry you were uncomfortable on your flight."