A Qantas flight travelling from Melbourne to Texas was reportedly diverted to Tahiti to deboard a man who allegedly bit an attendant. The flight QF21 from Melbourne to Dallas-Fort Worth was diverted to the French-Polynesian capital of Papeete, according to flight tracker data. There were still about 11 hours of the 18-hour journey left at the time of the disruption.
Local authorities came on board and arrested the passenger once it reached Papeete. The passenger has been barred from travelling on all Qantas Group flights, according to news reports.
Incident Details
Comedian Mike Goldstein, who was on the flight, shared a video of the incident on Instagram. Fellow passengers rushed to aid the flight crew during the confrontation. In the video, the man can purportedly be seen stumbling and swearing at crew members as he steps out of the flight toilet. He can be heard saying he was “trying to open the f***ing door.”
“I know you’ve been trying. Keep the language down ... There are kids around everywhere, and you're acting immature,” a flight attendant can be heard saying. “You have to behave yourself, you're on a plane,” the attendant adds. The man appears confused in the video, asking an attendant if he was “smoking any weed.” Throughout the video, the man keeps stumbling back onto the toilet door.
When warned that he may be restrained, he says, “I was just about to walk out for a cigarette.” Then he appears to get more aggressive when asked to go to the back of the plane.
Alleged Biting Incident
Real-time flight tracking organisation Air Nav Radar said in a post on X that the passenger allegedly bit a crew member, though this has not been confirmed by the airline or by authorities. The video then cuts to the plane landing in Tahiti, followed by a quick shot of a police officer walking past passengers. Local news reports suggest he was not an Australian.
After refuelling, the plane finally reached Dallas-Fort Worth several hours late on Saturday morning.
Qantas Response
“The safety of our customers and our crew is our number one priority, and we have zero tolerance for disruptive or threatening behaviour on our flights,” Qantas said in a statement. “We have zero tolerance for disruptive or threatening behaviour on our flights.”
The incident comes just over a month after a man travelling aboard a Canberra-to-Perth flight was charged for allegedly kicking a flight attendant and biting a fellow passenger. He reportedly shouted, swore and ignored instructions on the flight and kicked and pushed the seat in front of him.
