Qantas passenger taken off international flight after allegedly biting flight attendant

A Qantas plane travelling from Melbourne to Dallas was briefly diverted to Tahiti over the weekend to remove a man who allegedly bit a flight attendant.

Comedian and TV personality Mike Goldstein posted an Instagram video which appeared to show part of the incident, including a man stumbling into a toilet door and arguing with airline staff.

Fellow passengers and crew members rushed to help the staff member who was allegedly attacked by the man during the 18-hour QF21 flight. This masthead understands no serious injuries were caused.

The plane was forced to divert briefly to Tahiti’s capital city of Papeete, where the man was taken off the aircraft, met by local authorities and issued a no-fly ban by Qantas.

After refuelling, the plane departed and arrived at its destination several hours late on Saturday morning Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST).

Part of the chaos was seemingly captured in an Instagram reel posted by Goldstein, a regular panellist on the Nine Network’s comedy series The Hundred with Andy Lee. Nine owns this masthead.

The video, filmed by a nearby seated passenger, begins with a crew member opening a toilet door. The seemingly intoxicated man stumbles out and says he’s been “trying to open the f---ing door”.

The following exchange takes place.

Crew member: “I know you’ve been trying. Keep the language down.”
Man: “Why?”
Crew member: “Because there’s kids everywhere. You’re acting immature ... You have to behave yourself; you’re on a plane.”

Man: “Where? In the air?”
Crew member: “Everywhere.”
Man: “I know!”

Throughout the conversation, the man stumbles back into the toilet door and looks around occasionally. The camera pans down to the screen to show there is almost 11 hours left in the flight.

The man pushes past the crew member, at one point grabbing the screen in front of a passenger’s seat, and swears at him before several more crew members approach them. He is warned that he may be restrained and says: “Bro, I was just about to walk off for a ciggie.”

The crew member responds: “You’re carrying on like a bloody two-bob watch. You’re sitting down the back … you’ve had your last chance.”

After some more arguing and a brief scuffle, the camera cuts to a caption titled “plane lands in Tahiti”, followed by a quick shot of a police officer walking past and a photo of passengers speaking across aisles.

The video did not capture the alleged biting incident.

In a statement, a Qantas spokesperson said the safety of their customers and crew was their priority.

“We have zero tolerance for disruptive or threatening behaviour on our flights,” they said.

The incident followed a commotion on a Canberra-to-Perth flight last month, where a man was charged after allegedly kicking a flight attendant and biting a fellow passenger.

The 45-year-old Queanbeyan man allegedly shouted, swore and ignored instructions on the flight, Nine News reported.

An Australian Federal Police (AFP) spokesperson said the man kicked and pushed the seat in front of him and became aggressive to the woman in the seat.

In January, the AFP alleged a Canberra woman on a flight to Perth weeks earlier had behaved erratically towards another passenger as the plane prepared to take off, before assaulting a cabin crew member.

The 52-year-old woman allegedly forcibly grabbed the flight attendant’s arm and head.

AFP officers boarded the plane, escorted the woman off the flight at Perth Airport and charged her over the incident.

At the time, AFP Acting Superintendent Hayley Faithfull said any aggressive or anti-social behaviour on a flight could pose a direct threat to the plane and inconvenience passengers.

“The AFP works closely with our airline partners to intervene if someone’s behaviour interferes with the safety of workers or the public on flights using major Australian airports,” she said.

The man involved in the alleged incident on the Melbourne to Dallas flight is understood not to be Australian.

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