Their bulk came in handy.

When a Northwest Airlines crew could not bring a group of 18 British tourists under control during Monday’s flight from London to Minneapolis, a group of wrestlers, who said they were training for the U.S. Olympic team, offered to help.

“They assisted the flight attendants in subduing and restraining the rowdy, almost violent passengers,” spokeswoman Sara Steig said Tuesday. “They were much larger than the flight crew.”

The wrestlers helped pin several of the British tourists and handcuffed three men to their seats, in accordance with airline regulations for handling unruly passengers, Steig said.

Steig didn’t know the wrestlers’ identities.

Officials said the group of three families began throwing food, yelling and swearing when flight attendants refused to serve them more alcohol.

One Northwest official said she was told children in the group had been sent to steal liquor from the flight attendants’ beverage carts.

One man appeared in court Tuesday on charges of assaulting and intimidating crew members and was being held without bail pending another hearing Thursday.

The other 17 were returned to London.