A disgruntled passenger, taken off a Nationwide flight for allegedly threatening a stewardess who asked him not to read a pornographic magazine, on Tuesday said he was considering legal action against the airline.
AC Hoffmann said: "I'm seeing my lawyer later today."
He did not want to comment further about what happened.
According to media reports he was taken off a scheduled flight that was about to leave Johannesburg International Airport for Cape Town during the Easter weekend.
'Asked to desist reading porn'
Nationwide Airlines said on Tuesday that Hoffmann was asked to desist from reading a pornographic magazine, which he had with him, on the airplane.
Roger Whittle of the airline said other passengers had complained about Hoffmann reading the magazine.
In response to this, a stewardess approached Hoffmann and asked him to put the magazine away.
Whittle said: "He became abusive and threatened the cabin crew, using inappropriate language."
He said it was not so much the fact that Hoffmann had been reading the magazine that caused the airplane's captain to delay the flight and set him off, it was his "threatening behaviour".
"His behaviour was considered a threat to a safe flight and that is why the captain decided to set him off the plane."
'Airline can't have policy on everything'
Whittle said threatening behaviour on an airplane was an offence under civil aviation legislation.
Asked whether the airline had a policy regarding suitable reading material, Whittle said: "We can't have policy on everything. At some point common sense kicks in."
He added that the airline had received several e-mails thanking them for their action against Hoffmann.
"If he (Hoffmann) had said that he really wanted to read the magazine and was there somewhere more private he could, we probably would have accommodated him. But he went mad."
The SA Film and Publication Board said adult magazines containing sexual material had to be sold in sealed envelopes, but there were no restrictions on where they could be read.
Edited by Andiswa Mesatywe