Some "good" news out of HK/Malaysia for once:
Drunk's threat delays flight
HONGKONG - An aggressive drunk held up the departure of a Cathay Pacific flight from Dubai by threatening to blow up the plane with a bomb, a Cathay spokesman confirmed yesterday.
The incident took place on a Bahrain-bound flight yesterday as the plane was preparing to take off.
A male passenger demanded to be served an alcoholic drink. When flight attendants refused, 'he threatened to blow up the plane with a bomb', said Cathay spokesman Lisa Wong.
The captain took the plane back to the gate where the man was asked to disembark. A search found no bomb, Ms Wong added. --AFP
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia Airlines had barred a passenger from boarding a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Brisbane because of his poor behaviour on a previous trip, the airline said.
The passenger, who was not identified, had been detained by police upon arrival in Kuala Lumpur earlier this month.
Mr Mohamadon Abdullah, the airline's senior general manager for corporate services, said in a statement that unruly passenger behaviour which bothered passengers and flight attendants had increased in recent years.
There had been 20 reported incidents of unruly passenger behaviour so far this year, the airline said. There were 96 cases in 1998, 60 in 1999 and 52 last year.
The latest case happened earlier this month. It involved a 28-year-old British businessman who was arrested for criminal intimidation and causing grievous hurt on board an MAS flight.
It was reported that he began harassing a few other travellers on board the plane and allegedly grabbed a knife from a food tray and threatened a steward .
He subsequently threw the knife and the tray onto the floor of the cabin and began swearing at the steward.
When the steward stooped to clean up the mess, the businessman allegedly assaulted him.
Other cabin crew members, helped by a few passengers, overpowered the man and restrained him.
He was later handcuffed and placed under arrest when the plane landed at Kuala Lumpur airport.
In July, a 41-year-old garment distributor was detained at the airport for molesting two cabin crew members. --AP
BSP