Someone never made it to Darwin - Drunk passenger removed QF846

[FlyboyAl]

Well, I've read about it, but never seen it until last night.
We were on QF846 SYD-DWN and ended up being about 70 mins late leaving SYD.
I was seated in 14C when a passenger lurched into me as she made her way further down to about seat 20B. didn't think anything about it at the time.
After about 15 mins of sitting at the gate, there was much coming and going of cabin staff between the cockpit and the seats behind us. The captain appeared briefly at the cockpit door, looking down the plane, then a rather tall ground staff supervisor appeared and went down to the seat to "discuss" things with the passenger.
More sitting at the gate for another 10 mins when we got a PA announcement advising us all that there was a problem, which we all knew about(!) and that security had been called.
We then heard "I'm going to Darwin", "I'm not getting off this plane" etc etc in a raised voice coming from the aforementioned seat.
Another 10 mins or so later, 2 of the tallest Federal Police Officers I've ever seen appeared and went down to the seat, accompanied by a full round of applause from the passengers. One of them had to bend his head to actually walk down the plane !!!!!!!!
A little while later, a rather diminutive female walked down the plane, then turned and apologised to everyone and left the plane.
We ended up in Darwin about 20 mins late.
Whilst I don't think the passenger was regarded as a "threat" , she would certainly have been a safety hazard because her breath would have started a fire if it had got close to a flame!!!!!!!
The crew were great, and I suspect there were several of us who would have willingly thrown her off, just so we could get underway.
Full credit to Qantas staff for the way it was handled, although I guess it could have been different if the passenger had been violent.

[Stephen65]

Years ago we were on a QF flight MEL to LAX and a Y passenger apparently mixed too much alcohol with prescription medicine. According to the reports from the FA's and the noise we could hear he got so angry and violent he had to be handcuffed to restrain him. The flight made a detour to Honolulu and he was offloaded at about 3.00am in the morning with the FBI and local police coming on board to collect him. The FA's said he was travelling with his wife and two small children and I have always felt sorry for them, must have been an awful situation for them to be in.

[JohnK]

Was she that bad that she was staggering down the aisle?

At least she apologised on the way out.

[FlyboyAl]

She didn't seem too bad when she bumped into me - I can only assume she ruffled some other feathers.
I just wanted to leave!

[Simo]

The late flight from BNE to CNS was delayed by about half an hour one night because 2 paxs had a bit of push and shove at the gate.

The bloke who yelled and shoved was off loaded.

The guy was travelling with 2 other paxs all decided to get off as well.

They all had baggage which had to be found.

QF was all apologies.

[ozmille]

Couple of years ago we were ready for take off at YUL bound for AMS and the plane had to go back to the terminal, Federal Police was waiting and passenger escorted out...

[Warks]

Are you sure about that date and flight number? I flew SYD-DRW last Friday night on QF846 and we left on time arriving 20 minutes early! I would have thought I'd have remembered such an incident as I was in 4C. Can't really miss anything on a 737.
Either that or maybe I'd had too much and passed out...

[ozmille]

Are you sure about that date and flight number? I flew SYD-DRW last Friday night on QF846 and we left on time arriving 20 minutes early! I would have thought I'd have remembered such an incident as I was in 4C. Can't really miss anything on a 737.
Either that or maybe I'd had too much and passed out...

I think the OP flew on Thursday night.

[ozbeachbabe]

She didn't seem too bad when she bumped into me - I can only assume she ruffled some other feathers.
I just wanted to leave!

It all seems rather cordial doesn't it unlike the bloke on QF825 that took a swing at one of the cabin crew when they put him off tap.

[FlyboyAl]

Are you sure about that date and flight number? I flew SYD-DRW last Friday night on QF846 and we left on time arriving 20 minutes early! I would have thought I'd have remembered such an incident as I was in 4C. Can't really miss anything on a 737.
Either that or maybe I'd had too much and passed out...

Yep, we were thurs nite - you missed the fun by 24hrs!