Denied more alcohol, foreign national onboard AI flight turns abusive

A foreign national onboard a Mumbai-London flight allegedly turned abusive and manhandled a cabin crew member in an inebriated state after she was denied more alcohol, an Air India official said Wednesday.

The airline filed a police complaint against the woman, who was travelling in business class.

The incident took place on November 10 onboard Air India flight AI-131 to London, the official said.

The passenger already had four quarter bottles of wine. When she asked for more, the cabin crew refused to serve her as she had become completely drunk, an airline source said.

In a video clip recorded by a cabin crew member, she can be heard using expletives several times.

A First Information Report (FIR) was filed against her following a complaint by Air India and she was taken into custody on landing at London's Heathrow airport, the source said.

"As a thumb rule, a passenger can be served 2-3 pegs of hard liquor and another 3-4 glasses of wine. Passengers in business class can get a little more.

"But this passenger already had four quarter bottles of wine and was insisting for more. When denied, she started shouting and abusing the crew members," the source said.

In the video clip, which went viral on social media, the woman can purportedly be heard saying, "I'm working for all your people...for you, an international criminal lawyer. Don't get any money for it, by the way. But you can't give me a .... glass of wine, is that correct?"