Ammon News - A passenger has been banned from an Australian Airline future trips, after a long-haul flight from Australia to the US was diverted at the weekend due to the man allegedly biting a flight attendant.

The flight left Melbourne at 2.30pm on Friday en route to Dallas and was diverted to Papeete in Tahiti seven hours later when the behavior of the disruptive passenger forced it to land.

Passengers and other crew came to the assistance of the attendant during the alleged assault, a spokesperson from the airline said.

Upon arrival in Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, the plane was met by authorities and the passenger was issued a no-fly ban by the Airline, which includes any future flights.

The plane was refuelled and the flight resumed its journey to Dallas about 35 minutes later, arriving on Saturday morning.

The airline spokesperson said: “The safety of our customers and our crew is our number one priority and we have zero tolerance for disruptive or threatening behavior on our flights.”

Footage uploaded to social media by the comedian Mike Goldstein showed a man in a heated exchange with cabin crew, repeatedly using “offensive language” when they asked him to move to the back of the plane.

Standing in the aisle, he appeared to be stumbling and slurring his words, telling a flight attendant he had wanted to “walk out for a ciggie”. In response, the flight attendant said he was carrying on “like a two-bob watch”.

The footage did not show the alleged biting.

The Guardian