Two Chinese men jailed after brawl in plane’s first-class cabin
Passengers sat in area without proper tickets and attacked crew and other travellers who intervened after they were asked to move, according to media reports
Two men were each sentenced to two years in jail for beating up air crew and passengers after they refused to move from the first-class cabin on a flight in China, according to media reports.
The flight was about to take off from Taiyuan in Shanxi province to Chongqing on June 12 last year when a flight attendant found the two men sitting in the first-class cabin, but with economy class tickets.
They were asked to pay a fee to upgrade, but both refused to pay or move, the Global Times reported.
The dispute continued until the plane started taxiing to take off and the men attacked the cabin stewards and other passengers who tried to stop them.
The pilot aborted the take-off and the two were arrested.
The report said the police officer who came on board was also assaulted by the two men.
Four flight stewards and one passenger were also injured in the incident.
The men, whose full names were not given in the report, were convicted of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” by a court.
They were ordered to pay more than 13,000 yuan (US$1,950) in compensation to the airline.
The men were also put on a Chinese civil aviation blacklist of unruly passengers, the report said.
