James Corden is all smiles after earning praise for handling of Portugal flight nightmare-Brooke Ivey Johnson-Entertainment – Metro

Following a nightmarish travel day on his way back from Portugal, James Corden was spotted out and about in London (Credits: BACKGRID)

After a harrowing travel experience in Portugal, James Corden was spotted in London smiling and enjoying the sunny weather on Sunday.

The former Late Late Show host, 45, was photographed out and about in a festive striped shirt, enjoying a coffee and bagels from Joe & the Juice as he strolled through the capital.

The actor appeared unruffled and relaxed.

Despite his recent nightmare flight from Faro, Portugal, this week, he looks no worse for wear, which ended in an emergency landing in Lisbon, an hours-long wait on the tarmac, and an overnight delay.

Photos from the airport in Lisbon showed the Gavin and Stacey actor looking visibly upset as he conversed with airport staff, leading to speculation that he may have shared tense words with them.

An eyewitness soon set the record straight, telling Metro.co.uk that any frustration Corden may have been feeling was more than justified and that he was actually trying to help his fellow passengers.

Corden was seen enjoying the sunny weather in London following the travel nightmare (Picture: Backgrid)

The star didn’t seem any worse for wear as he grabbed bagels and coffee (Picture: Backgrid)

Corden was all smiles during his stroll in London on Sunday (Picture: Backgrid)

Vanessa, another passenger on the ill-fated flight from Faro to Heathrow, explained the series of unfortunate events that unfolded on the plane – and Corden’s attempts to lift passenger’s spirits.

She explained that about 45 minutes after the plane took off from Faro, passengers were frightened by an automated announcement telling them to prepare for an emergency landing.

The plane was forced to land in Lisbon instead of its destination in London, and passengers then waited on board for nearly three hours before the plane was ultimately deemed not to be flight safe.

Corden was photographed looking frustrated as he spoke to airport staff in Portugal (Picture: Backgrid)

Despite the gruelling wait and scary ordeal, Vanessa said Corden attempted to keep spirits high.

‘He walked up and down the aisles talking to people, and let everybody take a selfie with him,’ she recalled.

‘I made a joke and went, “Oh if we’re all going to die. You could tell us how does the Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special end?” and he went “Do you really want to know?” and I went “Yeah.” He went, “I can’t tell you.”

The eyewitness said Corden took selfies with anyone on the plane who asked him to (Picture: Matthew Horwood/GC Images )

‘Then he said, “but do you want to know what happened on the fishing trip?” and I was like “Yes! I do!” and he was like, “I can’t tell you that either,”‘ she said.

Vanessa continued: ‘He was just really nice, he would have been well within his rights to sit and sulk in his seat like the rest of us would be doing but he didn’t.’

Vanessa explained the story behind the photos of Corden appearing to confront airport staff: ‘So then BA finally let us off the plane. We’re in the terminal and there was not a member of BA staff to be found. And they put us in immigration queues. And there was just no one there telling us what was going on.

Corden was supposedly a ‘lovely guy’ throughout the ordeal (Picture: Noam Galai/GC Images)

‘The people he’s speaking to in that picture are the flight staff on our plane. I watched him fist bump the pilot as he got off the plane, he said, “Thank you very much,”‘ she said.

Vanessa said that the photos depict Corden talking to the flight staff about how the passengers were in the wrong queues, ‘and the staff then got us moved into the right immigration queues.’

Corden rushed to the defense of his fellow passengers when they were told they’d have to spend the night in the city, many of them without a comped hotel room: ‘James was a club flyer and he stood there, and was like “What about all these people who’ve got all these kids with them?” like saying that’s not acceptable. It’s not right.’

Passengers on the flight asked Corden about the upcoming Gavin and Stacey Christmas special (Picture: BBC)

She went on to say: ‘We all turned up the next day. We were told to turn up at 9:30 for a flight which actually was again delayed by over two hours and James Corden stood in the same queue as everybody else, doing the same things as everybody else did.’

She continued: ‘I saw him let women and children in front of him. He was a really nice guy both times.’

Based on the new pictures, Corden seems to have recovered from the chaotic incident and safely returned to London.

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