A plane was forced to land on a remote pacific island after a drunken manthreatened cabin crew onboard.
The angry passenger allegedly bit a flight attendant on a Qantas Airways flight between Melbourne and Dallas.
The route is one of the world’s longest scheduled services,at 15 hours flying time.
However the journey was even more prolonged tha usual on Friday,after the aircraft was forced to divert to Papeete in Tahiti,an island in French Polynesia.
Footage of the incident was uploaded by Australian comedian Mike Goldstein,who was travelling on the flight.
It showed the troublemaker wearing a green shirt,confronting cabin crew near a toilet.
The passenger was filmed having an altercation with cabin crew near a toilet on board a Qantas Airways flight to Dallas (Picture: Metrograb)The man was told by a male flight attendant: ‘You’re carrying on like a bloody two-bob watch.’A ‘two-bob watch’ is an Australian slang term for something cheap and unreliable.However the clip did not show the alleged biting.In a response to comments,Mr Goldstein added that the man became involved in brawl with a fellow traveller sitting in front of him after they reclined their seat.He wrote: ‘What I didn’t get video of was the person putting their seat back in front of him and him putting them in a chokehold. It woke him up and the rampage started.’Anti-social behaviour onboard flights has become an increasing headache for airlines,which face huge costs if their planes are diverted off course including extra fuel and compensating delayed passengers.With alcohol a key factor in incidents,passengers are strictly prohibited from consuming their own booze on flights.However,tipple is widely available in airports including at bars and executive lounges,which are not required to conform to usual restrictions on opening hours which apply to their high street counterparts.Drunken behaviour on board planes is a criminal offence in the UK,carrying a maximum penalty of £5,000 and two years’ imprisonment.Earlier this month,Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary called for airports to be banned from serving alcohol to passengers before early morning flights.His intervention was criticised by JD Wetherspoon’s boss Sir Tim Martin,who said a ban would be impossible to implement and an ‘overreaction’.Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at .For more stories like this,check our news page.
