Flight to Heathrow forced to return to Delhi after passenger ‘pulls air hostess’s hair’

File image of Air India aircraft
REUTERS/Regis Duvignau
Sami Quadri10 April 2023

A London-bound flight was forced to return to New Delhi after a passenger attacked cabin crew members, according to reports.

The Air India flight was flying to Heathrow Airport from Indira Ghandi international airport but returned after the passenger started behaving aggressively within 15 minutes of takeoff.

The customer reportedly hit a cabin crew member and pulled their hair, according to the Hindustan Times.

Air India said that the London-bound flight returned to Delhi “shortly after departure due to the serious unruly behaviour of a passenger on board”.

It added that the passenger did not heed the “verbal and written warnings” and instead “continued with unruly behaviour including causing physical harm to two of the cabin crew members”.

The pilot decided to return to Delhi and the passenger was handed over to the security personnel upon landing, the statement said.

A police complaint has been filed against the man, whose identity was not revealed by the authorities.

A spokesman for Air India said: “Air India flight AI 111 scheduled to operate Delhi-London Heathrow on April 10, 2023 returned to Delhi shortly after departure due to the serious unruly behaviour of a passenger on board.

“Not heeding verbal and written warnings, the passenger continued with unruly behaviour including causing physical harm to two of the cabin crew members.

“The pilot in command decided to return to Delhi and the passenger was handed over to the security personnel upon landing.”

They added: “An FIR [first information report] has also been lodged with the police. Safety, security and dignity of all on board is important to us at Air India.

“We are providing all possible support to the affected crew members. We regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers and have rescheduled the flight.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in