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AIRPORT

Brawl over seats forces Swiss to abort flight

Swiss International Air Lines was forced to abort a flight from Geneva to Algiers on Saturday after passengers got into a fight about where they were seated, according to reports.

Brawl over seats forces Swiss to abort flight
Photo: Swiss International Air Lines

The flight was fully boarded, had pushed back from the stand and was ready to take off at around 6pm on Saturday evening when the brawl broke out, reported daily 20 Minutes on Tuesday.

Six of the plane’s 110 passengers got into a dispute about their seats which rapidly became heated, and failed to heed instructions by the plane’s crew, said the paper.

Swiss – Switzerland’s national carrier – confirmed the incident, with a spokesperson telling the paper: “A group of passengers were aggressive. The crew deemed that it was not sensible to continue with them [on board]”.  

The plane turned around and returned to the stand, where police were waiting.

Six adults and three children left the plane, some in handcuffs, said the paper.

However there was more bad luck for the passengers left on the plane, as it was now too late for the plane to make the journey to Algiers and back to Geneva the same evening as was necessary, according to Swiss.

Consequently, the passengers were put up in a hotel over night and were rescheduled on flights the following day, albeit with a stopover en route.  

It is now up to the public prosecutor to decide if it will pursue the passengers involved in the brawl, who were questioned and released and have since flown on to Algiers, said the paper.

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