Chinese airline passengers detained over ground crew assault

BEIJING — Police in southern China have detained three airline passengers after they were caught on video slapping, verbally abusing and throwing food at the ground staff in anger over a delayed flight, state media reported on Tuesday (April 26).

Video of Monday’s incident at the airport in the city of Changsha has circulated widely on the Internet as the latest example of bad behaviour by Chinese airline passengers.

The three passengers had apparently become upset after their flight to the southern resort city of Sanya was delayed. As female staff tried to mollify passengers, two men and a woman shouted, flung the contents of a lunch box and finally slapped one of the staffers on the face.

The three passengers were detained by police, according to the website of the Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily. Such cases can result in a type of non-criminal detention without trial for as long as two weeks.

Concerned over such incidents on the ground and in the air, China’s government has created a black list for airline passengers found to be acting disruptively or dangerously. The list is made public, and airlines, hotels and other travel professionals can use such a designation as grounds for refusing service. AP