An Emirates flight to Pakistan turned violent after an intoxicated passenger purportedly became aggressive, requiring multiple crew embers to tackle and subdue him.
Drunken Man Slammed On Ground In Emirates Business Class On Raucous Flight To Pakistan
Emirates flight EK614 was traveling from Dubai (DXB) to Islamabad (ISB). Onboard, a passenger became violent in business class, ultimately requiring the crew to intervene. Two male crew members tackled the man, slamming him on the ground.
While her colleagues held him on the ground, a female flight attendant provided a bag of flex cuffs and the man was cuffed. The flight did not divert, but landed in Islamabad as planned where the man was arrested (on a wheelchair).
Who was he? Hope the law took its course as his violence could have threatened the whole flight. pic.twitter.com/B8hkUaovCW
— Amir Mateen (@AmirMateen2) February 25, 2024
There’s a lot of speculation about what happened, including:
- This is common on flights to Pakistan because some Pakistanis see it as the “last chance” to drink before arriving in a country with strict controls on alcohol
- With alcohol virtually banned in all but a select number of hotels and resorts catering to westerners, many Pakistanis head to Dubai for drinking and debauchery
I cannot speak to that. Nor can I confirm the insinuation that this allegedly intoxicated passenger is well-connected and will likely not face any real consequences for his action actions.
I request @emirates to publish his pictures so everyone can name him and shame him . The authorities have taken no action in Pakistan because he has connections with powerful people in Pakistan.
— Yasir Khan (@khanyasir76) February 25, 2024
But I certainly hope the he is held accountable for his actions. And I also hope that Emirates bans him. Thus far, Emirates has only said:
Emirates can confirm that there was an unruly passenger on flight EK614 travelling from Dubai to Islamabad. The passenger was restrained by cabin crew and upon arrival, was handed over to the authorities.
The safety of our passengers and crew is of critical importance and Emirates strives to ensure this is never compromised. Emirates is cooperating with the authorities at this time and cannot comment further.
My position on alcohol is evolving. I’ve always been against strict prohibition (the Prohibition Era in the US did have the positive effective of reducing some alcohol dependency, but had a host of unintended consequences that made it ultimately a failed policy). But I see a lot of alcohol abuse and I think that while some swear of the medicinal benefits of a glass of red wine, I do consider giving it up altogether:
Anyway, that’s another discussion for another time.
CONCLUSION
Emirates flight attendants were forced to subdue an intoxicated passengers on a flight from Dubai to Islamabad. If there was a cultural element to this flight (i.e. drink all you can before you land and can no longer do so), I hope this sends a reminder to others facing similar circumstance that it is simply not worthwhile to over consume alcohol in any venue…but especially on an airplane.
I used to drink a lot on planes, but the quality of the wine is usually very low, even in business class, and usually just made me feel sick. Nowadays I usually have just one glass with the meal and then drift off to sleep. I end up feeling much better when I land.
I remember being on a domestic United flight in first class. It was just a couple of hours long. The FA did a great job of refilling my glass every time it was empty. It was fun at the time but when we landed I was so drunk I could barely walk. That was an unpleasant uber ride home.
Violent response by the crew should never become the default. The goal must always be to de-escalate a situation at 40000ft rather than to emerge as the winner by knockout. Once it gets to this stage the crew have already lost.
The only way to win is not to play the game
They escalated because he escalated and tried to headbutt the flight attendant. I can’t imagine they would have gone to that extreme had he kept his head to himself. The video doesn’t do much to show the whole situation, only the escalation. I would hope that they were trying to talk him down without resorting to violence first.
Looks like the drunk received a hard hit (likely well deserved), but at a certain level of intoxication some injuries can be quite serious. Agreeing with Sean M. that perhaps keeping violence to a minimum should be the goal for the best outcome.
The hangover headache will be a nice start toward a legal punishment. If that happens…
I’ve always found it ironic that it was Muslims who invented modern distillation processes. Yeah, you get perfumes and such out of the process, but let’s face it, it’s all about the booze.
I dont understand drinking when travelling, it doesnt make me particularly feel good and for night flights its worse. Alcohol actually decreases the quality of your sleep by affecting the REM cycle, its hard enough to get good sleep so i avoid it. Either way even when not travelling a lot more evidence is now showing there is no healhy/beneficial level of any type of alcohol.
I mean, caffeine isn’t recommended as well when flying…
Alcohol is classified as a Depressant. It should never be served on aircraft. If you can’t live without a drink of alcohol for duration of your flight? You need to think about this?
I favor beating the guy to a pulp…and then continuing the beating. 🙂
There is no excuse for that kind of behavior.
Surely Emirates flight attendents aren’t going around slamming drunk looking passengers onto the ground before cuffing them. He probably was being very loud and causing a scene to be treated like that. I say well done Emirates.