A group of passengers got into a brawl on an Air Asia flight due to a dispute over noise levels. The plane had departed Kuala Lumpur and was heading to China on Monday night when the physical altercation was captured on camera.
According to witnesses, the drama unfolded about halfway through the four-hour journey. With the cabin lights dimmed and most passengers settling in for rest, an older man seated behind a group of women reportedly asked the ladies to lower their voices. The request was not well received, and tensions flared when the man allegedly called the women “stupid” and told them to “shut up.”
Reports say that one woman got up from her seat and attacked the man, aggressively striking him over the seat. Footage shows the woman, dressed in a green suit, leaning over a seat as she hits him. Meanwhile, the male passenger attempts to shield himself behind his food tray.
The situation caused a chaotic scene that involved shouting and tussling, while flickering emergency lights added to the confusion. The cabin crew rushed in to separate the individuals. A passenger who recorded the incident from a nearby seat shared that the women were indeed talking loudly, and the man said he wanted to sleep. She indicated that one of the women was seated with her mother and a friend. The mother joined the dispute, and “the friends then went up to attack the man.”
Although the fight caused quite a stir onboard, reports indicate that no serious injuries were sustained and no arrests were made upon landing. Air Asia staff were able to calm the situation, and the plane completed its journey without further incident.
However, authorities from the Sichuan Provincial Public Security Department have since begun probing the incident to determine what led to the mid-air melee.
This recent in-flight brawl is just one of several recent incidents of mid-air disruptions, including a man being dragged off a Thai Lion Air flight for demanding a bigger seat and a woman in India who allegedly threatened to crash a plane during a dispute with cabin crew. Other recent clashes include a passenger left bruised after a fight on a Frontier Airlines flight and a heated argument between two travellers over a reclined seat on a flight to Bali.
