Air rage: Chinese passengers open plane's emergency doors to protest flight delay
Chinese police detained 25 plane passengers who opened emergency exits before take-off - after they got irritated their flight was delayed by snow, state media reported.
The travellers were forced to wait in their seats for hours on Saturday after the China Eastern Airlines flight from Kunming to Beijing was delayed.
After requesting they be allowed off the plane for health reasons, some passengers “opened three emergency doors in an attempt to stop the flight”.
This forced the plane to return to the terminal, Xinhua news agency cited a passenger as saying.
Two people, surnamed Zhou and Li were later locked up for 15 days' of "administrative detention", the state-run China News Service said.
The plane had already been delayed for five hours before they boarded, only to face further delays while ice was cleared from the aircraft, the report said.
Rise in air rage cases
While the 25 passengers were detained by airport police, others travelled to Beijing by another flight.
China’s growing wealth has seen a boom in air travel over the past decade, and a rise in incidents of unruly passenger behaviour.
This passenger made headlines in December when he opened an airline's emergency door moments before take-off to 'get some fresh air'. Photo: Weibo
Last month, a budget flight from Thailand to China was forced to return to Bangkok after a Chinese passenger threw hot water at a cabin attendant.
Chinese state-run media branded four unruly passengers on board as “barbarians,” reporting that one of them had threatened to blow up the plane in a row over a seating arrangement.
Sources: South China Morning Post, Weibo
Related report: Chinese passenger throws hot water at cabin staff, forcing Thai flight to return
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