On Monday morning, a Jetstar flight heading from Melbourne to Bali had to divert back to the airport it took off from just 2 hours after departure because of an unruly passenger. The woman, whose name has not been revealed, started screaming at the other passengers and, according to witness reports, even spitting on the other travellers and banging on the cockpit door.
Flight JQ43 departed form Melbourne at 10:42 am local time and just 2 hours later was forced to make a U-turn due to the unruly passenger, landing back 4 hours after taking off, at 2:48 pm, according to Flightradar24.
Writing in a social media post, one of the other travellers 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.
Footage shared by 9News Sidney shows the woman screaming and swearing at everyone on the plane. “You don’t understand what the fuck is going, you do not understand any of this”, she can be heard in the recording.
A Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Bali has had to turn back mid-flight due to an unruly passenger. #9News pic.twitter.com/7V2yigjqrm
— 9News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) March 18, 2024
According to witnesses, she claimed somebody stole her phone and started going up and down the plane, cussing and abusing everyone in her path. “An older man actually made a comment to her as she was passing through and she was right up in his face and abused the absolute hell out of him and smashed his glasses off his face. His poor wife was terrified”, another passenger told radio 3AW.
The woman was eventually restrained by other passengers and cabin crew. And although she was kept in the back of the plane for the duration of the flight, according to the other travellers, she kept on screaming, scaring some of the children on board.
Upon landing back at Melbourne, the Australian Federal Police took the woman into custody and is now investigating the incident. “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”, Jetstar said in a statement. “We know this was a difficult experience for other customers and our team members, and we thank those who assisted with the situation.”
The flight was rescheduled for the morning of the following day as, “due to the circumstances, several crew members were unable to continue flying”, the airline said. Passengers were provided with overnight accommodation and had other expenses that occurred due to the incident, including meals, covered by Jetstar.
