Passenger kicked off flight not charged

An allegedly drunk man kicked off an Auckland-bound  Jetstar flight from Dunedin last Friday has not been arrested and will not face charges, police say.

Jetstar says alcohol played a part in the incident at Dunedin Airport, the latest example of a rowdy passenger causing a flight disruption.

The man was escorted off flight JQ284 to Auckland and met by police inside Dunedin Airport, where he was given a warning and let go.

A spokesman for Dunedin police, Nic Barkley, said the situation was not serious enough to warrant arrest.

Jetstar customer Owen Mansill, who witnessed the disturbance, said the "big guy" was kicked off just as the plane was ready to depart.

"He wasn't swearing, but he was quite verbose and everyone around him could hear him talking," he said. "Then we got on the plane [and] sat down. The plane's doors were closed and we started to taxi out.

Mr Mansill said shortly after this, the captain told customers the plane would return to the terminal as a passenger had to leave the aircraft.

"There was a bit of a silence when we got back to the terminal, then eventually this guy was escorted off the plane by cabin crew. The pilot then came out of his cockpit door and that's when another guy walked off the plane."

Mr Mansill said another passenger claimed that the man was swearing and causing a scene.

"I spoke to someone next to me who said 'Before you got on, the big guy had been swearing quite a lot and quite loudly and creating a bit of a scene'. Nothing more was said after that," he said.

Mr Mansill said he believed Jetstar did the right thing by making the passenger disembark.

Man was tipsy only - passenger  

But another passenger said the man had told him he was tipsy, and was swaying a bit in the boarding line, but otherwise appeared not to cause any trouble.

Martin Fey was standing next to the man in the line to board flight, he described the man as a "big boy" who was "quite pleasant" to talk to.

Mr Fey said although he did not see the alleged behaviour, he was surprised at the way the incident had been described by others.

"The description of 'rowdy', 'commotion' and disruption was not obvious from ten rows away."

Mr Fey said the man "left in silence" when he was escorted off the flight. "They've overplayed the rowdy aspect of it, I think."

Jetstar confirmed that alcohol was involved in the incident and said the passenger and an associate were "offloaded" at the terminal and the abusive man banned from flying with Jetstar or Qantas for 24 hours.

"The captain elected to offload a disruptive passenger prior to take-off," a Jetstar spokesman said.

"We do not tolerate any behaviour which disrupts other passengers or puts safety at risk on our aircraft."

Jetstar said apart from a delay, the incident did not have a major impact on its operations.

According to the FlightAware site, the plane left at 4.58pm, about 28 minutes late.

A Civil Aviation Authority spokesman said he understood the man had since caught another flight without incident.

Reports in February quoted New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority statistics that showed, on average, just over one person a month was now being offloaded from planes for offensive behaviour. Alcohol was almost always involved.

The Chicago Daily Herald reported this month that "air rage" incidents were on the rise internationally. It cited overcrowding and intrusive security searches as possible triggers.

 

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