Passenger, newborn baby offloaded from flight on 'disobeying' cabin crew

KARACHI: A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight was returned from take-off point to the jet bridge after an unruly passenger reportedly refused to obey the cabin crew, ARY News reported on Monday.

The passenger – a woman whose identity was not revealed by the airline – and her newborn baby were offloaded from the Lahore-bound flight PK-304 after she reportedly insisted on sitting in the Economy Plus section despite having an economy class ticket.

Sources informed ARY News that the woman was asked by the cabin crew and the captain to go back to her seat but the passenger reportedly misbehaved with the flight attendants.

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Other passengers complained after the ruckus escalated, due to which the aircraft was returned to the jet bridge and the passenger along with her baby was offloaded.

The flight was delayed for over an hour due to the incident, causing inconvenience to over 150 other passengers aboard.

In January this year, a PIA flight attendant was offloaded just before the take-off after he tested positive in an alcohol test carried out by Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

In another such incident in March, a PIA flight captain was barred from flying to Birmingham from Islamabad after he tested positive in a CAA alcohol test.

He was later cleared of charges against him after a detailed blood examination revealed he had not abused any substances.