After just a few years on the job, flight attendants will see all kinds of people and come across a variety of strange situations. There was the time a traveler flying from Bangkok to Taiwan snuck in two otters, a marmoset, and 28 tortoises that came loose and started moving through the cabin, or the time a woman earned a permanent ban from flying with United Airlines (UAL) after growing belligerent and causing the plane to get diverted to Phoenix in an incident that other passengers said started “over wine.”
Long-time JetBlue Airways (JBLU) flight attendant Tyesha Best once told the TheStreet about a passenger who, when asked not to get up for the lavatory during takeoff, threatened to urinate in a bottle and spill it through in the cabin.
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The latest incident of a passenger who disregarded all sense of appropriate public behavior occurred on a May 27 Virgin Australia (SPCE) flight from Perth to Melbourne. While the trip between the two cities on opposite coasts of Australia takes three-and-a-half hours, the pilot made the call to turn the plane around one hour into the flight after a passenger ran through the cabin and knocked over a flight attendant who got in the way to try to stop him.
‘Suddenly went bananas and started running up and down the aisle’
Travelers who were on Flight VA696 described a fellow passenger who “suddenly went bananas running up and down the aisle and bashing on the cockpit door.”
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“All of a sudden I hear this running up the aisle and the guy’s got no clothes on and he’s just charging towards the front of the plane,” a 23-year-old mining engineer named Sterling described to The Guardian while adding that the situation was “really distressing. “One good Samaritan, this big guy in business class, jumped up straight away to intervene and then these two other guys later got up and tackled him to the ground.”
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‘Officers arrested a man after he allegedly ran naked through the aircraft’
The air crew alerted local police about the reason for the diverted flight and Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers entered the plane to lead him off upon landing.
“AFP officers arrested a man after he allegedly ran naked through the aircraft mid-flight and knocked a crew member to the floor,” AFP confirmed in a statement to media outlets.
The traveler, whose name and other identifying information has not yet been made public, was also taken to a local Perth hospital for assessment and is still being held there. He is set to appear at the Perth Magistrates Court on June 14 on charges that are still being finalized.
The flight attendant that the nude passenger knocked over as he ran through the cabin did not sustain any injuries but many travelers reported being significantly distressed at the moment as many initially though the plane was being attacked.
In a statement on the incident, Virgin Australia said after the “disruptive passenger” was identified, the “appropriate steps were taken by the crew, in line with protocol.”
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