In-flight ruckus: Couple threaten to blow up plane & commit suicide

In-flight ruckus: Couple threaten to blow up plane & commit suicide

A Thai AirAsia (TAA) chartered flight bound for Nanjing, China, was forced to return to Don Mueang airport in Thailand after a Chinese female passenger threw scalding hot water on a flight attendant, media reports said.

In Thursday's incident, the woman's male companion also threatened to blow up the plane while his girlfriend told other passengers that she wanted to commit suicide, Bangkok Post reported, citing Charles Liu who posted on the Nanfang Insider blog on Friday.

The report said the couple, who were part of a tour group from China, were earlier angry when they discovered that they were not sitting together as seats had been assigned in alphabetical order. A flight attendant managed to find them adjoining seats but the couple were still complaining loudly, according to the post by Liu.

Later in the night, the woman bought instant noodles on the flight and asked for boiling water. When the attendant brought the water, the woman threw it in her face, a report on The Washington Post said. The woman's boyfriend then stood up in the cabin and threatened to bomb the plane.

The Bangkok Post said chaos ensued and passengers claimed that dinner cutlery was used before the couple finally calmed down once other passengers became involved. A statement from the airline said the incident forced the captain to return to Don Mueang and the couple were asked to disembark.

The airline said police later took the couple and their two friends to Don Mueang police station where they settled the dispute with the flight attendant and the captain, reports Free Malaysia Today.

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A TAA spokesman said the Chinese woman was allowed to leave Thailand on a TAA flight back to Nanjing after she agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of compensation to the affected cabin crew member who was not seriously injured.

They were on board Thai AirAsia flight FD 9101 bound for Nanjing which took off at 5.55pm on Thursday with 174 passengers and four cabin crew, the airline said in a statement on Friday.

The Bangkok Post report said incidents involving angry outbursts by Chinese tourists have prompted Beijing to issue guidelines on behaving abroad. In 2013, China's National Tourism agency released a 64-page illustrated guide for how citizens should behave when they travel abroad.

The guide recommended things like avoiding nose picking in public, snapping at people, and peeing in pools, according to AFP.


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