For dozens of passengers, it was an unpleasant start to what was going to be a fun holiday in Thailand when their Munich-Bangkok service operated by Lufthansa was diverted due to a couple fighting on the plane. So severe was the quarrel between them that the pilots thought it was best to divert the Airbus A380 to Delhi and have the authorities on the ground deal with the husband-wife duo.
New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) is no stranger to Lufthansa’s Airbus A380 aircraft, but its arrival on November 28 was under unusual circumstances. The aircraft was flying from Munich to Bangkok but had to make an unscheduled stop in India at around 10:26 because a couple on the flight had a heated argument.
According to The Indian Express, a 53-year-old man was heard shouting at his wife, and the situation quickly escalated when he tried to burn her blanket with a lighter. An airport officer revealed that the woman sought help from the cabin crew after complaining that her husband was threatening her. It was alleged that the man was inebriated, and the situation was severe enough for the pilots to seek permission from Delhi ATC to land the plane.
Regarding the quarrel between the husband-wife duo, the report quotes a source as saying, “ The crew complained the man was shouting at his wife; he then threw food and tried to burn a blanket with a lighter. We think this led to the emergency landing as the staff had to intervene and were troubled. They complained the man didn’t listen to their pleas.”
The couple was de-planed and handed over to the immigration officials as well as the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officers in Delhi. It has been reported that the wife was traveling on a different PNR and requested to be allowed to continue her journey to Bangkok, but was denied.
Some reports suggest that a decision was pending on whether to hand over the man to Delhi police or send him back to Germany, while The Indian Express states that both of them have been sent back to Munich. The flight, a daily scheduled non-stop service between Munich and Frankfurt, is operated by an Airbus A380 and takes around 10 hours to complete. Per Flightradar24, on Tuesday, the aircraft departed Delhi at 12:26 and landed in Bangkok four hours and 45 minutes later.
Passengers misbehaving on flights is not new and often forces airlines to divert, causing inconvenience to fellow passengers. Instances of travelers involved in a drunken brawl, assaulting fellow passengers, or even attempting to break into the cockpit have surfaced in recent times.
Organizations such as ICAO and IATA are also planning for increased collaboration across the industry to curb these incidents and are looking to come up with solutions, as detailed in the following article, to deal with unruly passengers.
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