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A female passenger became irate and launched into a racist tirade while on board Fiji Airways flight FJ 871 between San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Nadi International Airport (NAN) on January 18th. Flight attendants had to restrain the woman and tape her mouth shut after she verbally and physically attacked them.
📌 Woman restrained with duct tape after outburst during Fiji Airways flight | WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT
Video Source: https://t.co/FDJjQwswpl pic.twitter.com/Evnxa6mT94— fijivillage (@fijivillage) January 24, 2025
News.com AU reports that the 69-year-old woman (who has been identified as an Australian national) was “causing a nuisance” while “intoxicated.” A passenger on the flight reported that the woman began to “raise her voice” around halfway into the roughly 11-hour flight. According to the passenger:
The other passengers were particularly upset by her overtly racist comments towards the Fijian crew members, with many calling out to the woman to be quiet and behave. Parents with children onboard were clearly upset with the excessive vulgar language and swearing with many seen blocking the ears of their children.”
The woman’s behavior was so appalling that her husband even requested to be seated away from her. She reportedly refused to stop yelling abusive and racist things at the flight crew and even slapped the hands of one of them before they moved in to restrain her and stifle her hateful mouth. Luckily, the flight did not divert and the aircraft was met by law enforcement in Fiji.
Fiji Airways released the following statement:
At Fiji Airways, the safety of our passengers and crew is our highest priority, and we uphold a zero-tolerance policy for any threatening behavior. We are co-operating with the relevant authorities, who are investigating an incident involving a passenger aboard flight FJ817 from San Francisco, which landed at Nadi International Airport on 20th January 2025, where it was met by law enforcement.”
Anthony’s Take: Intoxicated or not, this woman seems vile. I’m glad the crew was able to restrain her. Even her husband seems to know she’s trouble.
(Featured Image Credit: Jacob Amoe Finiasi via Facebook.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
