Another incident involving a passenger trying to open an aircraft cabin door mid-flight has resulted in a man being restrained during a flight and eventually detained by police.
The passenger is said to have attempted to open the cabin door about an hour into the five-and-a-half-hour flight from Bangkok to Seoul. The scuffle unfolded after he refused to vacate a jump-seat reserved for crew only, reaching out to grab the emergency exit door handle of the Airbus A330-300. At the time, Korean Air craft was flying at 37,000 feet. 284 passengers were on board.
Verbal aggression and threatening movements
A video filmed by a fellow flyer and published on TikTok reveals the response of the flight attendants, who leapt into action to subdue the man who “exhibited non-compliant behaviour, including verbal aggression and threatening movements,” a Korean Air statement said.
“Appropriate restraint measures” were then taken by the crew under the direction of the pilot, with the disruptive passenger “relocated to a secure area”.
The airline statement went on: “The incident was managed in accordance with Korean Air’s security protocols, with our primary focus on ensuring passenger safety and maintaining operational integrity. Korean Air takes all incidents affecting aviation safety with utmost seriousness. We will fully cooperate with relevant authorities in their investigation.”
Local police at the destination, Incheon International Airport, were waiting to greet the flight when it landed, and they took the passenger into detention while the incident was further investigated.
Passenger arrested after attempting to open an exit door on board Korean Air flight KE658.
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) November 9, 2024
In a statement Korean Air said a foreign male passenger was overwhelmed by crew and passengers on flight KE658 while flying between Bangkok and Seoul.
The passenger sat in a crew-only… pic.twitter.com/ARktP1DCYv
Trying to open the cabin door are “very rare”,
Instances of air passengers jeopardising a flight’s safety by trying to open the cabin door are “very rare”, according to John Gradek, a faculty lecturer in aviation management at McGill University. “As an industry, we’ve basically made it very, very clear that those doors are not to be opened. Stay away from those doors,” he said.
However, the problem has been frequently in the headlines, with multiple occurrences over the last two years, as well as a documented increase in other unruly passenger behaviours since Covid-19 restrictions were introduced. One airline chief, Michael O’Leary of Ryanair, has suggested alcohol consumption is to blame and recently advocated for a limit on how many alcoholic beverages passengers can purchase at airports before their flight.
And as the aviation sector reckons with how to manage disruption, American Airlines has updated its policies on removing passengers from flights, after it was accused of racial discrimination in a lawsuit earlier this year.
