Man who filmed ‘passenger from hell’ who allegedly shoved fellow flier holding a baby opens up about ‘scary’ ordeal
The man who filmed the moment a woman unleashed on a fellow passenger while on board a Jetstar flight from Melbourne, Australia to Bali has revealed new details about what lead to the “scary” ordeal.
Footage from onboard the flight shows the woman upstanding and screaming in one man’s face, with worried cabin crew lingering behind her.
The flight, which took off at 10:42 am on Monday and got as far as Alice Springs, was forced to turn around and land back in Victoria around 3 pm.
Jetstar passenger Kyle Hand, who filmed the footage that has now gone viral, witnessed the altercation and said in a surprise new detail that the woman had been in the bathroom on board for 30 minutes prior to the altercation and had been acting “erratically” prior to boarding.
“She’s pushed past the (food and beverage) cart and no on really knew what was going on,” Mr. Hand said in an interview with Channel 7’s Sunrise on Tuesday.
“Then she started screaming that someone had stolen her phone. The passengers next to me said they saw her acting pretty erratically just before she got on the plane.”
Hand said passengers got a warning that the aircraft would need to be turned around and once that happened, that’s when things “really kicked off.”
“Once we got told the plane was turning around, she did a fair bit of walking up and down the aisle,” he explained.
“There were a fair few disgruntled passengers who made passing comments. I’m not sure what happened but she started abusing a few more people down the back and then they ended up restraining her and funnily enough they found her phone.”
Another passenger, Melanie, witnessed the ordeal unfold and said kids on board were “scared” by the behavior.
Another passenger described the woman as the “passenger from hell.”
“(She was) verbally Abusing everyone in her path! Even shoving a fellow passenger holding a baby,” the person wrote on social media.
“So we were turned around three hours into the flight while she was restrained by passengers and crew in the back. All the poor little kids had to listen to this for five hours. Why they didn’t land and drop her in Darwin or Alice Springs, I have no idea.”
Jetstar apologized for the inconvenience caused to passengers, after rescheduling the new departure for Tuesday instead.
“The Captain decided to return to Melbourne to get assistance from the Australian Federal Police after a passenger became disruptive just under two hours into the flight,” the airline said in a statement provided to news.com.au.
“We know this was a difficult experience for other customers and our team members, and we thank those who assisted with the situation.
“Due to the circumstances, several crew members were unable to continue flying and the flight has been rescheduled for 10am tomorrow.
“We will provide accommodation overnight to any customers who need it and cover other reasonable expenses including meals.
The safety of our customers and crew is our priority.”
