A man at the center of a horrific 2023 incident onboard Virgin Atlantic has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his vile outburst against a cabin crew member on a flight to Pakistan.
Virgin Atlantic Passenger Jailed For Vile Threats Against Flight Attendant
Let’s first review what happened, then we’ll discuss the punishment handed down for his conduct:
- The incident took place on a Virgin Atlantic flight from London Heathrow (LHR) to Lahore (LHE) in February 2023.
- Salman Iftikhar was seated in Upper Class with one of his two wives and three children.
- After champagne service, Iftikhar went to the onboard bar, grabbed ice with his bare hands, and was asked by flight attendant Angie Walsh to return to his seat.
- He immediately became verbally aggressive toward Walsh, calling her a:
- “racist f*cking b*tch”
- “f*cking c*nt”
- He then threatened Walsh with extreme violence, including:
- “I’ll have you gang raped in your hotel room.”
- “I’ll set fire to you in your hotel room.”
- He also said that he would hunt her down in the UK
- Iftikhar accused Walsh of calling him a “Paki,” which she denied
- Even as his family cried and pleaded with him to sit down and shut up, he made threats to kill another crew member during the flight.
- Walsh, a 37-year Virgin veteran, was left shaken and later off work for 14 months due to trauma from the incident.
- Iftikhar was not arrested upon landing in Pakistan, but was later detained in the UK in March 2024.
This week, he was sentenced to 15 months in prison for his outburst.
But his “supermodel” wife Abeer Iftikhar continues makes excuses for him. Upon his sentencing, she posted the following message to her Instagram account:
“Mental health is not a joke. Behind every story, there’s pain you don’t see. Before judging, try understanding. Be kind. Be human.”
No, dear. What happened was your loser husband is an entitled jerk who cannot handle alcohol and acted out on that entitlement in the worst possible way. Hopefully, however, his time in prison will help him to reflect that the world does not revolve around him and that it is never too late to start treating others the way you wish to be treated.
My heart goes out to Walsh…no flight attendant (or anyone for that matter) should have to endure such verbal abuse and threats. In addition to jail, I hope that Iftikhar is forced to pay Walsh a huge financial settlement.
CONCLUSION
What happened onboard that Virgin Atlantic flight was beyond the pale. Alcohol may have been a factor, but it does not excuse the stream of racist, misogynistic, and violent threats hurled at Angie Walsh. I hope Walsh continues to recover from this trauma and finds some measure of closure knowing her abuser is behind bars. Let’s also hope this serves as a warning: abuse a flight attendant, and you will face real consequences.
What if the FA responded by saying “go ahead and try…I’ll r4pe you in the 4ss with a bottle and we have lots of bottles here…. and r4pe your two wives with bottles, too. Heard of Abner Louima? I’ll Abner Louima you!!!!”
FAs are often bullies. This is the situation that AA FA bullies should be bullies, not against nice passengers.
I would love for this Paki to be raped in prison.
Always the short guys making these issues.
The guy got off light. He should be serving 5-10 plus paying out sizeable compensation to the FA. After that he should be banned for life from flying on any scheduled airline.
Civility is vanishing world wide. His sentence comes up short to the crime, but perhaps he will enjoy experiencing similar threats and verbal abuse in prison.
In no way meaning to disparage or blame the victim, but I”m a little surprised that after 37 years of flying that F/A had to take 14 months off from that frightening & inexcusable behavior. I hope she has completely recovered and is able to resume her life. I couldn’t imagine how many A-holes (understatement) she has had to deal with during the course of her career, and that job certainly is not for everyone, especially these days …
I hate to think how that criminal treats his two wives & offspring…,
I think he got off easy with 15 months (assuming he’ll get out in half the time). It might have been a different story if he had done this on a US airline. Mental health is real but cannot be an excuse for harming others. BTW, shout out to Virgin FAs who have always been amazing to this VS Gold card holder.
Ban him for life from flying ever! Flying is not a right no matter how much money you have in a wallet. It is a privilege for those who behave well.
Can you imagine what his wives put up with him? These wives are his “cultural enablers” by their “culture forced” excuses for their men. It is called survival for women in certain countries. These women aren’t even self aware because this is normal to them to even recognize the replusiveness of their “husband’s” threats and why the flight stewardess was traumatized. They too are most likely traumatized themselves on a daily basis. The know it is wrong outside their culture to do what he was doing based on the crying and pleading. They know it is unexceptable everywhere else, but their country they are flying too.
I am so sorry for the flight stewardess. No one should experience workplace abuse OR domestic abuse. Pray she is able to heal from this “lt’s” (not calling him a man because he isn’t one) disrespectful, distasteful, nasty threats.
It is absolutely beyond me why:
– the flight was not diverted if threats of physical violence and terrorism took place
– why the targeted flight attendant was not sent to economy and replaced by male colegue
– why this guy was not arrested right after landing
Hey Iftikhar, meet your new cellie: Todd the Top. Looks like you’ve got the bottom bunk.
So, he’s religious when it comes to concubines but not with regards to alcohol consumption. Duly noted.
It’s good that he’s been imprisoned in the UK. He would’ve gotten away with it in his native Pakistan.
The prison sentence is way too short for the crime.
The inevitable end result of mass immigration…