A passenger has been banned from future Qantas travel after a plane travelling on a long haul flight from Australia to the US was diverted over the weekend after the man allegedly bit a flight attendant.
The QF21 flight left Melbourne at 2.30pm on Friday en route to Dallas and was diverted to Papeete on the island of Tahiti seven hours later after the behaviour of the disruptive passenger forced it to temporarily land.
Passengers and other crew came to the assistance of the attendant during the alleged biting incident, a Qantas spokesperson said.
Upon arrival in Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, the plane was met by authorities and the passenger was issued a no fly ban by Qantas, which includes any future Qantas and Jetstar flights.
The plane was refuelled and the flight resumed its journey to Dallas about 35 minutes later, arriving on Saturday morning without further incident.
The spokesperson for Qantas said “the safety of our customers and our crew is our number one priority and we have zero tolerance for disruptive or threatening behaviour on our flights”.
Footage of parts of the alleged incident, uploaded to social media by comedian Mike Goldstein, showed a man in heated exchange with cabin crew and repeatedly telling them to “fuck off” when they asked him to move to the back of the plane.
Standing in the aisle, he appeared to be stumbling and slurring his words, telling a flight attendant he had wanted to “walk out for a ciggie”. In response, the flight attendant said he was carrying on “like a two bob watch”.
The footage did not show the alleged biting.
The case is among a spate of recent incidents on Australian flights, some of which have led to arrests.
Last month, a Queanbeyan man was charged over alleged disorderly and aggressive behaviour that led to his mid-flight restraint when travelling from Canberra to Perth, which also including attempting to bite the arm of another passenger.
The man, 45, allegedly behaved in a disorderly manner by shouting, swearing and ignoring safety instructions from airline crew during the flight on 16 April.
He further allegedly kicked at a cabin manager during attempts to restrain him and attempted to bite the arm of another passenger who had been assisting with the restraint, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said in a statement.
He was charged on three counts including assault on aircraft crew member, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
AFP acting superintendent, Peter Brindal, said at the time that antisocial or aggressive behaviour could be particularly concerning in the confines of a plane during a flight.
“Being in the air does not give anyone a free pass from the law and consequences on the ground,” he said.
“The AFP … will put people before the courts if they are accused of breaking the law.”
It followed another incident in January when the AFP alleged a Canberra woman on a flight to Perth behaved erratically as the plane prepared to take off and went on to assault a cabin crew member. She was charged with one count of assaulting crew of an aircraft and one count of behaving in an offensive and disorderly manner on an aircraft.
A vape device also caused a plane to ground to a halt this year, with a flight from Brisbane to Melbourne met by firefighters after landing in February.
The pilots of Virgin Australia flight issued a “pan” call after a vape activated in the cabin during descent, with smoke seen coming from the device.
Last year, a Jordanian national was charged after he allegedly attempted to open the doors of a Sydney-bound plane mid-flight. Crew and passengers had to restrain the man, during which he allegedly assaulted an airline staff member.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was approached for comment.
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