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[PHOTOS] AirAsia Flight Forced To Turn Back After Passenger Scalds Crew With Hot Water

The incident was the most-discussed topic on social media site Weibo Friday evening.

Cover image via SAYS via WSJ via MalaysianInsider

Chinese flight rage is no longer confined to the country's own airspace. On 12 December, an AirAsia flight from Bangkok to Nanjing had to turn around midway after a female Chinese passenger intentionally scalded a flight attendant with hot water.

Image via thenanfang.com

A statement from budget airline Thai AirAsia said the Chinese passenger on a Thursday evening charter flight to Nanjing berated the crew member, before scalding her with the water. It said colleagues gave her first aid, while the pilot returned to Bangkok, and asked the passenger and her entourage of three other people to disembark.

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As per a statement from the airline, an unidentified Chinese female passenger assaulted the female flight attendant with the hot liquid after becoming dissatisfied with the service

The cup noodles residue.

Image via Ramesh Kasi

A Chinese woman and her boyfriend reportedly got into a dispute with flight attendants when they discovered that they were not seated together on the plane because the large group they were a part of were assigned seats in alphabetical order. Flight attendants resolved that problem and found the couple seats together.

But later in the flight, the woman asked for hot water for the instant noodles she bought on the plane, Chinese blog the Nanfang Insider reported. When the attendant brought the water, the woman threw it in her face.

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The woman's boyfriend also stood up in the cabin and threatened to bomb the plane, The Washington Post reported via the AP

Image via thenanfang.com

“An unidentified female passenger assaulted the flight attendant with the hot liquid after becoming dissatisfied with the service,” the budget airline said in a statement. “The captain of the flight decided to return the plane to Don Mueang Airport deeming her actions as endangering to other passengers and impeding in-flight service.”

There was no mention of the bomb threat in the airline’s statement, according to the AP.

washingtonpost.com

The unruly passenger and the crew reached an “amicable conclusion” to the dispute after they were taken to the police station, according to the Bangkok Post. The ejected passengers — the woman and three other people — were permitted to board another flight out of Thailand on Friday, according to OneIndia.

thenanfang.com

The flight attendant was given first aid when the plane returned to Bangkok, and she was not seriously injured

A screenshot shows a photo posted to the verified account of Weibo user Zhang Xiao following an attack on an Air Asia flight attendant by a Chinese passenger.

Image via wsj.net

One fellow passenger, Zhang Xiao, who identified himself as a host on a Chinese-language television station in Thailand, wrote on his verified Weibo account that the trouble had been caused by one woman and one man

“The man said he wants to bomb the plane; the girl said she wanted to commit suicide,” Mr. Zhang wrote, adding that the woman had thrown hot water at the flight attendant.

Cell phone video appearing to have been shot on the same plane shows a male passenger shouting obscenities at the cabin crew while other voices can be heard remarking in Mandarin on his lack of class.

“They are losing face overseas,” Mr. Zhang lamented in his post on the incident.

wsj.com

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