China shamed again after fight on flight

A flight broke out among four Chinese passengers on a flight from Chongqing to Hong Kong yesterday that almost forced the captain to turn back, Air China said.

It was the second scandal within a week involving Chinese air travelers after an AirAsia flight attendant had hot water poured over her when a couple became angry that they weren’t sitting together.

On Air China flight CA433 that took off at 9am yesterday from Chongqing, two female passengers first complained to the family behind that their child was making too much noise.

They in turn complained about the two women having reclined their seats too much, a passenger sitting nearby said in an online posting.

The disagreement soon became violent. Pictures posted online by other passengers show one woman standing up, bumping her head in the process, before pushing the flat of her hand into the face of the passenger behind.

A flight attendant standing beside them tries to persuade them to stop but they all turned a deaf ear, a witness said.

“The Hong Kong police has taken over the case and are still investigating,” an Air China official said.

The flight landed at its scheduled time of 10:52am and Hong Kong police were waiting to interview passengers about the incident.

In the other scandal, Chinese passengers caused chaos on a Thai budget flight, forcing the aircraft to return to Thailand.

The incident occurred last Thursday, when a couple on AirAsia flight FD 9101 had a spat with the flight crew over seating arrangements. The couple were required to pay compensation of 50,000 baht (US$1,525) to the flight attendant who had hot water thrown at her.