Singapore Airlines flight returns to San Francisco after ‘unruly’ passenger incident

[SINGAPORE] A Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight bound for Singapore returned to San Francisco after an “unruly” passenger injured himself on board.

Flight SQ31 departed San Francisco at 11.51 am local time on Wednesday (Oct 14), or 2.51 am Singapore time on Thursday, SIA said in response to queries from The Business Times.

“A Singapore Airlines customer on board flight SQ31... became unruly and injured himself in the process,” an SIA spokesperson said.

“The pilots assessed the situation and decided to return to San Francisco.”

The aircraft landed uneventfully at San Francisco International Airport at 8.41 pm on Wednesday, or 11.41 am Singapore time on Thursday, and the passenger was handed over to local authorities, SIA said.

Unverified accounts posted on Reddit by users who said they were passengers on the flight claimed that the incident occurred several hours after take-off.

One user said a man began screaming and kicking seats about three hours into the flight, and tried to get to an emergency exit. The user said the man continued to cause a disturbance after being restrained.

Another user who claimed to have been on the flight said the passenger had been “trying to pull (the) emergency exit mid flight”.

BT could not independently verify the Reddit accounts and SIA did not confirm whether the passenger had attempted to open or reach an emergency exit, or whether he had been restrained.

SEE ALSO

SIA passenger traffic up 2.8% in September; cargo demand jumps on AI, chip shipments

Flight tracking data from FlightAware showed that SQ31 had travelled well into the North Pacific before turning back towards San Francisco.

The flight was operated on an Airbus A350-900 aircraft.

The tracking site recorded a total travel time of about eight hours and 40 minutes for the aborted journey.

SIA said the delayed flight subsequently departed San Francisco at 11.18 pm on Wednesday, or 2.18 pm Singapore time on Thursday, with a new set of crew members.

The airline apologised to affected passengers and said it was providing assistance, including rebooking connecting flights.

It added that it was working closely with the relevant authorities on the matter.