travelling-blogger

comments

A disruptive passenger left 267 passengers stranded in Bali overnight after an in-flight incident.

The man became verbally abusive on Flight JQ35, which departed Melbourne at 6pm yesterday and landed in Bali around six hours later.

Passengers claim they were told three flight attendants were physically injured in the altercation and required medical attention.

Grounded: A Jetstar plane pictured at Melbourne airport

However, a Jetstar spokesman said the abuse was verbal, adding: 'Due to the nature of the incident and in the interest of crew wellbeing' the return flight from Bali to Brisbane was cancelled.

All 267 passengers were provided with accommodation in Bali and have been reaccommodated on services departing today.

'Jetstar does not does not tolerate anti-social behaviour,' the spokesman said.

'Our crew are trained to deal with these situations and handled the incident professionally.'

The disruptive passenger was denied entry to Indonesia and will be deported.

'Jetstar is liaising with the Australian Federal Police in relation to the incident.'

After the incident, a member of crew went off duty, meaning the return flight from Bali to Brisbane was cancelled.

Stranded: Bali, where the 267 passengers were stuck after an in-flight incident on a Jetstar plane

As a result, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner flew back empty.

Tavis Keen, stuck in Bali with his family, told news.com.au the flight was delayed by one and a half hours before the captain announced three flight attendants were 'incapable of flying back to Brisbane' and had been 'removed from the plane for medical attention'.

'Bear in mind that they waited for nearly two hours after the flight initially should have left to advise the passengers — no doubt waiting for the terminal to be emptied of all other passengers and flights in order to avoid any issues with passengers,' the passenger said.

The passenger said Jetstar had provided passengers with a $25 voucher for flights as compensation 'as well as substandard accommodation and absolutely no communication about it'.