Jetstar to Ban Phuket to Sydney Brawlers from its Flights?

10th Oct 2016

A 27-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman, both from Australia, who got into a fight, last week while traveling on a Jetstar plane between Phuket and Sydney, could be banned from a return flight to Phuket. The Australian low-cost carrier (LCC) is currently considering the fate of these two troublemakers.

In a statement about the incident, Jetstar said it does not tolerate "disruptive behaviour" on its flights. The two might also never fly on a Jetstar plane ever again:

"We will conduct a review with a view to banning these passengers travelling with us in the future."

The incident involving these two happened last Wednesday (5th October), midway through the plane's journey between Thailand and Australia. Once the plane landed in Sydney, the local police escorted both off it.

As the two began fighting, a group of nearby passengers had to restrain them. One of the passengers in this group was a finance expert Scott Haywood. Mr. Haywood said the fighting broke out when the woman reclined her seat onto the man's mother. This provoked the man to wallop her seat and the argument heated up and turned from a war of words to a physical altercation between the two.

Mr. Haywood said:

"In the area there were about 12 of us who saw it all and they were certainly laying into each other."

He also said the whole incident was "distressing", but fortunately neither suffered any serious injuries in the brawl. The two families were eventually separated to different plane sections.

Phuket Consul General Craig Ferguson said:

"This comes on the back of the Australian government's smarttraveller campaign encouraging Australians to 'Stay Classy in the Air'. Through our advisories at smarttraveller.gov.au we urge Australians to act responsibly and exercise common sense at all times. Courtesy and respect to other travellers goes with that."

A spokesman for the AFP refused to provide much comment on the incident, while the investigation is under way, saying only:

"Investigations remain ongoing and as such, it would not be appropriate to comment further."