Passengers in plane fist fight

[Phillippe M]

Passengers in plane fist fight
MATT CUNNINGHAM - October 28th, 2008

A TERRITORY-bound plane had to turn around mid-flight after two rowdy passengers got into a fist fight and one of them pretended he was carrying a bomb.

The Virgin Blue flight from Brisbane to Darwin had to be cancelled after two passengers caused a disruption shortly after boarding, witnesses said.

They said the men had been drinking and began fighting before one of the men started running down the aisle screaming: "I've got a bomb." The flight had to be stopped and the plane flown back to Brisbane. The cabin crew were said to have been traumatised by the incident.

Australian Federal Police officers were called to Brisbane airport where they arrested a 54-year-old man.

He was taken to the Brisbane city watch house where he was charged with making threats to aviation security, and offensive and disorderly behaviour in an aircraft.

The man appeared in a Brisbane magistrates court on Friday where he was bailed to reappear on November 21.

Passengers on board Virgin Blue flight 449 to Darwin last Thursday evening were put up in hotels for the night and flown to Darwin the next day.

Many passengers were inconvenienced by the flight's cancellation, including the mother of a Darwin Digger.

Gunner Nathan Wallace's Brisbane-based mother had planned to get into Darwin just before her son arrived home from a 12-month tour of duty including five months in Afghanistan.

But she missed her son's homecoming after being stuck in Brisbane.

Virgin Blue did not respond to requests for comment.

http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2008/10/28/12421_ntnews.html

[NickN]

A day will have to come soon when passengers should be breath tested prior to being allowed to board a flight. Time and time again there are stories of intoxication causing major disruptions and in-flight chaos.

Look at that french fool who groped the flight attendant and then tried to assault the captain and ended up being handcuffed to his seat. Incidents like this can be easily avoided with a tougher stance by airlines and police.

[Adrian B]

Dear sir,

Please find enclosed the hotel bill for the passengers that had to be accomodated because of your behaviour. You will also note the labour hours, fuel, landing fees and other costs associated in the delay. Once we have determined how your behaviour has impacted flights the day after this incident, we will be sure to send another invoice.

Failure to pay this bill within 28 days will result in legal action to recoup the funds.

have a nice day.

[Marty H]

Dear sir,

Please find enclosed the hotel bill for the passengers that had to be accomodated because of your behaviour. You will also note the labour hours, fuel, landing fees and other costs associated in the delay. Once we have determined how your behaviour has impacted flights the day after this incident, we will be sure to send another invoice.

Failure to pay this bill within 28 days will result in legal action to recoup the funds.

have a nice day.

Exactly, not the sort of bill I would want in my letterbox.

[Greg McDonald]

A day will have to come soon when passengers should be breath tested prior to being allowed to board a flight. Time and time again there are stories of intoxication causing major disruptions and in-flight chaos.


Absolutely agree. I actually thought this WAS done to a certain extent by the checkin staff at the boarding gate.

[Michael Morrison]

Absolutely agree. I actually thought this WAS done to a certain extent by the checkin staff at the boarding gate.


It is - but where does it say they were drunk in this article?

[Sarah C]

It is - but where does it say they were drunk in this article?

Quote:

"Virgin Blue spokeswoman Heather Jeffery said there were 138 passengers on board the plane.

"During the flight a male passenger became extremely verbally aggressive and appeared to be intoxicated," she said."

You had to click on the link to see it. Sending these fools the bill for the inconvience for the airline and all the passengers would be the best punishment.

[NickN]

Alcohol fuelled airline violence has got to be up there among the most common reasons for these incidents.

There was an incident a while back where a German bloke got smashed on board an Emirates (???) flight to Perth I think it was and tried to open the door mid-flight.

Enough is enough.

[Jack B]

Bit worrying if that really traumatised the cabin crew, isn't it?

[Darren Butterworth]

The guys 54, you'd think he'd be well past drunken shenanigans.:(

[Daniel M]

Bit worrying if that really traumatised the cabin crew, isn't it?

how so? They are human after all arent they?

[Jack B]

how so? They are human after all arent they?

Well I suppose your right

But cabin crew are supposed to stay very calm in situations like this, and although i admit it could be quite scary to have a guy screaming he has a bomb, well, i just got myself between a rock and a hard place

I guess your right

[Daniel M]

Well I suppose your right

But cabin crew are supposed to stay very calm in situations like this, and although i admit it could be quite scary to have a guy screaming he has a bomb, well, i just got myself between a rock and a hard place

I guess your right

I'm sure they would have stayed pretty calm through the ordeal, although afterwards, it's perfectly normal for shock to perhaps come into play. It is a regular occurrence, for example when a passenger has a serious medical issue on board etc that the cabin crew will offload themselves (or crewing will in fact off load them from the rest of their days duties) as they probably won't be in the correcy mindset.

[Phillippe M]

Another one for Darwin!

Drunken fight forces plane back
MATT CUNNINGHAM - November 1st, 2008

AN INTERNATIONAL flight was forced to return to Darwin airport after a fight broke out between five drunken passengers.

Jetstar flight JQ61 carrying 172 passengers from Darwin to Singapore was forced to turn around about half an hour after it took off from Darwin airport on Thursday night.

Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said it was believed the men had been drinking duty-free alcohol before they boarded the plane.

Despite being intoxicated, they passed several security checkpoints and boarded the plane.

Mr Westaway said the men became "disruptive" about 30 minutes after take-off, leaving the captain no option but to turn the plane around.

"We originally contemplated having security meet them in Singapore but the captain made the decision to go back to Darwin," he said.

Australian Federal Police officers were waiting at Darwin airport and escorted the five Malaysian men off the plane.

Two men were taken into protective custody. The other three were allowed to leave on their own.

The two men in custody were later released after Jetstar informed the AFP it did not want to pursue charges.

The disruption delayed the flight by about three hours.

"We are doing our own investigation as to how these individuals got on to the plane while intoxicated," Mr Westaway said. But he said Jetstar management supported the captain's decision to turn the plane around.

"Our captain and crew have a duty of care to all passengers," he said.

It was the second Australian flight in a week to be turned around because of unruly passengers.

http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2008/11/01/13345_ntnews.html

[D Chan]

Absolutely agree. I actually thought this WAS done to a certain extent by the checkin staff at the boarding gate.

I reckon that is a great idea. What check-in staff could do is detect through behaviour whether the passenger is heavily intoxicated or not etc. but cannot and does not have the power to breath-test them - they can however contact the federal police if it is extremely obvious the pax is too drunk to fly etc. Often front line staff like check-in, airport, flight attendants are the victims of drunken pax.

I think the responsibility to RBT should fall to security officers at airports. This means it is indepedent and airlines won't be blamed for not letting passengers get onboard etc.What usually happen is that when pax are drunk before boarding, they will continue to drink inflight. These sort of problems happen more regularly than anyone would think.

[Grant Smith]

Nothing like the stony cold stare of a singapore police officer..

Seriously?

I've seen tougher looking women at the checkin counters...