Long-haul flight forced to turn around after passenger 'bites cabin attendant'

19 January 2024 , 15:45

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All Nippon Airways plane (Image: AFP/Getty Images)

A plane was forced to turn around after a female member of the cabin crew was bitten by a drunk male passenger, according to the airline.

The US-bound All Nippon Airways (ANA) Flight 118 flight was forced to return to Tokyo after an intoxicated passenger bit a crew member just three hours into the flight. The man, reportedly a 55-year-old American, was "heavily drunk" when he bit a cabinet attendant's arm, slightly injuring her, a spokesman for the airline told AFP. The suspect was handed over to police but told authorities he had taken a sleeping pill and did not remember what happened. The unnamed female flight attendant suffered minor injuries.

The plane, which reportedly had 159 passengers on board, was over the Pacific Ocean when the incident happened. An ANA spokesperson told NBC News: "While flying over the Pacific Ocean, a passenger who was heavily intoxicated bit the arm of a female cabin attendant prompting the plane to return to Tokyo Haneda Airport."

Planes in Japan have recently become embroiled in chaos, with multiple incidents this month alone. On Saturday, another ANA flight in Japan had to do a U-turn after a crack was discovered in the window of the cockpit. The crack appeared in the outermost of the four layers of window surrounding the cockpit but luckily no one on board was injured. An ANA spokesperson said: "The crack was not something that affected the flight's control or pressurisation."

In a more series turn of events, on January 2nd a Japanese Airlines aircraft collided with a smaller coastguard plane and burst into flames. Dramatic images showed the plane engulfed in flames as all 379 people on board the passenger jet miraculously escaped unharmed. But five of the six people on the smaller aircraft, which was supplying relief after a major earthquake hit central Japan, died.

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On Tuesday, aircraft belonging to Korean Air and Cathay Pacific clipped wings at an airport on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido amid wintry conditions. There were no injuries. A similar incident occurred on Sunday when an ANA aircraft came into "contact" with a Delta Air Lines plane at Chicago airport in the United States, the Japanese airline told AFP, also causing no injuries. The Mirror contacted All Nippon Airways for comment.

Rachel Hagan