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Why One Qantas Flight is Now Costing a Grandmother Over $18,000

Where: Australia
June 11, 2012 at 11:46 AM | by | Comments (0)

We've all heard it before on the family road trip. "If you continue to misbehave, I will turn this car around!" Well, that's exactly what a Qantas captain did when a drunk passenger recently started acting up. A grandmother was over-served on the alcohol, got all riled up and actually started a fight in the air.

The flight took off from Melbourne and was en route to New Zealand when, just after drink cart came through the aisle, the woman became enraged with another passenger after he asked her to stay quiet. Her reply? A straight punch in the face. The punch-drunk granny was then restrained in the last row of the plane when the pilots decided to return to Melbourne to off-load the fighter.

After she sobered up, the belligerent passenger plead guilty for the assault, though claimed no recollection of the incident, and was ordered to pay a fine of $3,500 to the courts. The judge was on the side of Qantas on this one as he also ordered her to pay the cost of turning the plane around, to the tune of $18,245.

The airline ended up banning the woman from boarding another Qantas flight for 10 years. While that may seem kinda hefty, this isn't the first time she has a run in with an airline. A similar incident ensued on a Virgin Australia flight last year. Unruly and offensive behavior and smoking on-board got her a fine and a slap on the hand from Virgin.

Traveling can be stressful, we get that. We just hope these recent incidents of misbehaving on planes doesn't become a trend.

[Photo: iambents]

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