Passenger Slapped Multiple Times In Nasty Mid-air Spat On Bangkok-India Flight, Video Viral

Things took a nasty turn on a recent Bangkok to India Thai Smile Airways flight after a group of men came to blows while other passengers and crew members watched on helplessly.

The incident reportedly took place on December 27 on a flight that was making its way to Kolkata, and is the latest in a spate of similar unpleasant instances.

Fight Breaks Out Mid-air On Flight From Bangkok To India, Passenger Slapped Multiple Times

#AirRage

Video of a fight between pax that broke out on @ThaiSmileAirway flight

Reportedly on a Bangkok-India flight of Dec 27 pic.twitter.com/qyGJdaWXxC

¡ª Saurabh Sinha (@27saurabhsinha) December 28, 2022

In the video shared by Saurabh Sinha on Twitter, two men can be seen having a heated argument while a staff member tries to interject. The seemingly minor kerfuffle snowballs into a physical fight in a matter of seconds as more men join in, and as a result more crewmates too.

Going by the clip, the man in the beige jacket can be heard saying "Mein araam se neeche baitha tha, theeke." The man in the black jacket standing next to his seat utters something inaudible when a third, who has joined the scene by now, asks, "Kya tareeka hai yeh?"

"Haath neeche rakh," says the man in a light jacket. "Baith theek se."

The camera moves to the other end of the flight where a crewmate can be seen on the phone, most likely talking to the captain.

The camera view shifts to the left again, this time showing more men heading to the seats where the spat originally broke out. A fraction of a second later, the man with the glasses takes them off signalling a physical fight that was inevitable by this point.

Twitter/Saurabh Sinha

With the glasses off, the man smacks the other guy in the dark jacket in the face. This is followed by a whole barrage of slaps and a box or two that leaves the guy on the receiving end with a visibly red face. A crewmate commands, "Please stop this right now. STOP."

And there in the middle of a de-pressurised cabin and plenty of second-hand embarrassment, ends another episode of unruly passengers giving it their best worst mid-air.

The 'usual suspects' and the unsavoury reason this happens

In a trailing tweet, Mr Sinha shared what he'd heard from crew member friends who pointed out unruly passengers are "most common" on flights on this route:

Feedback from many crew member friends working in Indian airlines: Misbehaved pax ¡°most common¡± on flights between India & Thailand

¡°On way out, ppl too happy to be going on vacation. On way back, sad holidays over. Get drunk & often go overboard in happiness/sadness!¡± they say

¡ª Saurabh Sinha (@27saurabhsinha) December 28, 2022

As to whether any action was taken/is being taken, he wrote:

Since this fight happened on a foreign registered, so far not reported to @DGCAIndia, say senior officials

So, no info with CISF or DGCA so far

@ThaiSmileAirway request statement pls from you on date & sector (reasons too if possible) of this fight. And action, if any, by you

¡ª Saurabh Sinha (@27saurabhsinha) December 28, 2022

Authorities trying to find out who these ppl are

But since this on a foreign airliner, ltd jurisdiction

"Its a foreign registered Aircraft. We have no powers/oversight. Our laws do not apply to them. State of registry (Thailand) has to take appropriate action:" senior official

¡ª Saurabh Sinha (@27saurabhsinha) December 29, 2022

Turns out the whole fight was over a reclined seat at the time the plane was taxiing and ready to take off for India:

Correction: passenger on 37C (not 31C) had reclined & declined to upright seat when aircraft as taxiing in Bangkok to take off for Kolkata

¡ª Saurabh Sinha (@27saurabhsinha) December 29, 2022

Sadly, this is a recent addition to a whole bunch of similar such events that left co-passengers and flight crews seeing red. It was only a week ago that an IndiGo crewmate had to school an unruly passenger and remind him that she was an employee and not his personal servant. A few days before this, an old video that was re-circulated online showed a youth shouting, "Nobody speaks when I speak" while others tried to calm him down.

Meanwhile, here's how others reacted:

#1

Making india Proud.

¡ª Abdul (@abdustaan) December 28, 2022

#2

Indian railway experience in International flight

¡ª Nitesh Singh (@TheNiteshSingh) December 29, 2022

#3

They should be added to no fly list immediately!!

¡ª Tandon (@TandonSaab) December 28, 2022

#4

Flying etiquette and passenger discipline manuals in every seat pocket - Need of the hour.

¡ª Caroline D'Mello (@CarolineCeline) December 28, 2022

#5

Unfortunately some desis can be so poor travellers! Zero etiquettes & zero regard for safety. Hope they are banned from flying.

¡ª FlyBoyRed ???? (@I_Aneesh) December 28, 2022

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