An argument between husband and wife that turned violent onboard a Lufthansa A380 forced an emergency diversion to ditch the husband. Now the man faces a lifetime Lufthansa ban and a hefty bill for his lack of self-control.
Lufthansa A380 Bound For Bangkok Diverts To India After Husband Turns Violent In Fight With Wife
It is said that arguments in a relationship can foster a place of deeper understanding, greater trust, and a more authentic connection. 10 years into marriage, I can attest to that. But there is a time and place for such discussion and it is never okay when talk becomes violent…especially on an airplane.
Here’s what we know about what happened:
- A couple was traveling on LH772 from Munich (MUC) to Bangkok (BKK) on a Lufthansa A380-800
- Per Bild (Germany’s national tabloid newspaper equivalent to the UK Daily Mail), the man was “German” and his wife was “Thai”
- For reasons that remain unclear, the two got into a nasty argument about three hours into the flight
- The argument became so heated that the wife told a flight attendant that she felt “threatened” by being near her husband
- When flight attendants attempted to mediate, the husband freaked out and then:
- Threw food in the cabin
- Attempted to light a blanket with a cigarette lighter
- Undressed in the cabin
- Smashed his mobile phone
- Threatened the cabin, stating, “I’ll kill you all!”
- The captain requested an immediate diversion in Pakistan, which was denied
- A diversion to Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) in New Delhi was approved
- All monitors were shut off and no announcements were made, so that the problematic passenger did not know where the flight was diverting.
- On the ground in Delhi, an announcement was made that it was “forbidden to make films or photograph” before six soldiers came onboard and escorted the husband off
- The wife remained onboard
- The flight took off again, landing in Bangkok only two hours late.
At this point, it is unclear what will happen to the man in terms of legal consequences, though Lufthansa has already given him a lifetime flight ban. Per a spokesperson:
“The person in question was handed over to the authorities. The passenger has been banned from traveling on Lufthansa Group flights with immediate effect.”
I suspect alcohol was involved and he will a slap on the wrist and deputation back to Germany…but I bet his wife isn’t coming back to Germany, at least to him.
CONCLUSION
While arguments can show that a relationship is still alive, when they turn violent or even heated they expose a much deeper problem. The fact that a fight turned violent onboard a packed aircraft on an intercontinental flight and the specific antics of the husband make me fear for the safety of the wife.
On a legal note, I hope now that Lufthansa will send the man a bill and sue him if he refuses to pay. This sort of behavior was totally ancestry and even though the flight was impressively only two hours late into Bangkok, the fuel costs and extra labor costs for the crew should be paid back to Lufthansa.
The only thing I don’t understand about these issues is why India has to deal with this loser. They seem like an innocent victim of all this nonsense.
Mind you I don’t have a better solution, but just b/c you allow a plane to transit your airspace shouldn’t leave your govt and taxpayers on the hook for dealing with this crap. I think Pakistan had the right idea
I don’t agree, if a captain requests a diversion and landing it is the duty of any civilised country to facilitate that as quickly as possible. Big fail to Pakistan and well done India.
Another dumbass on a plane.
Given India’s atrocious human rights record on protecting women in their country the police will probably laugh and give him a ride to The Taj Hotel.
South Asia in general has a massive misogyny problem that evidences itself with sexual violence too. In India, unfortunately, it is still not a formal criminal offense of rape when a person rapes their spouse. Truly insane, but India is also the US ally where the most churches have been attacked within the last 18 months by right-wing mobs who hate Christians (and Muslims).
I read that it’s a mix, much like in the west where women supposedly suffered from “historical discrimination” but check out who got the pick of the lifeboats on the Titanic or Costa Concordia. From google:
“Since the Nirbhaya Rape case happened in the year 2012 an alarming increase in the false rape cases being filed is recorded. Many innocents have been convicted guilty for their life. In 2014, Commission for Women submitted a report stating that 53.2% of rape cases registered between April 2013-July 2014 were false”
The overwhelmingly majority of rapes in India are likely to not have been reported to the authorities. Raped women and girls and their families across the region tend to avoid public reporting of rape because it is seen as stigmatizing of the victims and gets in the way of rape victims’
marriage prospects or even the continuation of marriages of the rape victims.
Very inappropriate behavior for sure,but had he continued into Bkk,he may very well have become just another statistic in the long list of aged horny western imbeciles who marry young thai women,then end up flying off balconies to their deaths.Not uncommon at all.
Why wouldn’t they have wanted him to know where they were diverting? I don’t follow the logic, especially considering the plane probably had Wi-Fi and all the passengers certainly had cell phones.
I think the concern was that it might agitate him even more. I suspect the wi-fi was cut off too.
Who denied the diversion to Pakistan and why? Was it because of no scheduled LH flights there? If an emergency requires a diversion to land somewhere unexpectedly and in a rush, it sounds like quite the luxury to pick and choose a country and airport of your choice. Why didn’t they just pick BKK, Thailand instead and let the Thai authorities deal with the abusive husband.
It was probably the CISF police force that boarded the DEL flight rather than Indian soldiers. But sometimes some of these Indian Home Ministry forces are so heavily armed that they look more like military/paramilitary soldiers than civilian police.
I think airlines should compile blacklist of passengers who have been bared for previous poor behaviour and for which worldwide bans are in order. Why should the travelling public suffer idiots such as those. Any future flights they may be allowed to make will carry a surcharge against unofficial stops, security, landing fees, medical intervention, delays to other flights.