Malta Cup winner Ken Doherty had to get off a flight back to London after his fellow finalist John Higgins was asked to leave the plane amid allegations he was drunk.
A fellow passenger is understood to have complained to the Air Malta cabin crew before a decision was taken to remove Higgins from the flight from Valletta to Heathrow this morning.
"It's perfectly reasonable for the captain to be thinking about the safety of his passengers but I honestly thought we were fine," Higgins said afterwards.
One passenger said: "John had obviously had a fair amount to drink. He was allowed on to the plane but the stewards seemed to think he'd cause problems or the other passengers.
"He wasn't aggressive towards anybody and accepted the decision without any aggravation.
"Ken didn't seem to be drunk and it looked like he was trying to help John out but the crew told him that if he didn't like the decision he could leave as well."
Doherty recovered from 8-5 down to edge Higgins 9-8 and capture his first ranking event title since he won the Thailand Masters in March 2001.
"We took the decision to remove a couple of people who may have caused other passengers inconvenience," an Air Malta spokesman said.
Dubliner Doherty won the world title in 1997 and is regarded as one of snooker's finest ambassadors.
Higgins succeeded Doherty as Crucible king in 1998 and has won 17 ranking titles during his 14-year professional career.
World Snooker, the game's governing body, is unlikely to take disciplinary action, and a spokesman said: "This is not a matter for us and we will not be commenting further on it."