Passenger kicks up ruckus after being denied seat upgrade on flight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If31WD_FvJ8

Video from YouTube

A Chinese man was detained after he threw a tantrum, kicking and injuring three police officers—all in a futile bid to get a seat upgrade on board a New York-bound United Airlines flight (UA087) last Sunday (Dec 6).

The Chinese media reported that the man, surnamed Lu and a university professor from Chengdu’s South-west University of Finance and Economics, had been drinking prior to the plane’s take-off and was caught trying to sneak into first-class.

After Lu’s request was denied, he kicked up a ruckus by running around before lying down in the middle of the aisle. The plane’s captain then decided to enlist police assistance to escort him off the plane.

That was when he turned violent, lashing out at police officers and injuring three of them.

Reports said Lu’s fellow passengers eventually pitched in to help, tying his hands with a cable tie.

A YouTube video of the incident shows Lu kicking and screaming while officers and passengers attempted to drag him down the aisle.

Last week, an elderly woman from Shaanxi province made the news when she was fined by a Hong Kong court for attempting to steal a life jacket off a Cathay Pacific Airways plane.

READ: Passenger fined for stealing life jacket thought to be ‘souvenir’ from plane

She later claimed that she thought the jacket was a souvenir.