A flight bound for Seattle from Tokyo, Japan, was forced to turn around after a male American passenger allegedly bit a female cabin crew member mid-flight on Tuesday January 16, 2024. According to flight-tracking website, Flightradar24, the All Nippon Airways flight 118 took off from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport at 9:47 p.m. local time and turned around a little over an hour after leaving.
A spokesperson for ANA told CNN that the male passenger was detained by police upon landing back in Tokyo. His name was not released.
According to the spokesperson, the flight attendant sustained minor injuries from the bite. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has so far declined to provide further details on the case.
It appears that the passenger may have been drunk. "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," the spokesperson said.
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The information given on the suspect is that he is a 55-year-old American citizen. He was charged with assault upon being arrested.
According to another passenger aboard the flight, it was said that the man was yelling, acting violent toward numerous flight attendants, and even attempted to open the plane's exit door. Eiji Kawauchi, an engineer from Tokyo who was on the flight for a work trip, said other flight attendants and passengers eventually got the man to sit back in his seat after his initial outburst.
It wasn't too long before Eiji said that the passenger got up again, this time appearing panicked, and that's when he tried to open the exit door of the plane. “He screamed ‘Call 911, help me get of off this plane!’ And then he tried to open the emergency exit.”
According to Eiji, around five passengers helped the flight attendant stop the man from opening the exit. He then said that the flight crew had to use zip ties to restrain the man.
Eiji is thankful that the crew acted in such a way to ensure the safety of other passengers aboard the flight. “Trying to open the exit gate, that’s pretty terrible, scary,” he said.
This was by no means the first time that a passenger has gotten out of control on a flight. In July 2022, a woman hit, bit, and spit at flight crews on an American Airlines flight. That same month, another woman attempted to hug and kiss another passenger and bit a passenger several times on a Delta Air Lines flight. The passengers were fined $81,950 and $77,272 respectively, being the largest fines ever issued by the FAA in the US.
