Flight attendants tape disruptive passengers mouth shut after racist and vulgar tirade on flight to Fiji

Flight attendants have been recorded attempting to restrain and duct tape the mouth of an irate passenger who was thrashing and screaming on board a Fiji Airways flight as she traveled to the country’s main island.In exclusive vision provided to news.com.au, the distressed and “intoxicated” passenger – believed to be in her 60s – was filmed on flight FJ871 from San Francisco to Nadi last Saturday.The flight landed in Nadi on Monday, Jan.20, where it was met by local law enforcement and she was arrested.

The woman was charged by police in Fiji where she remains in custody awaiting court.The airline has confirmed the incident is now the subject of a “legal investigation”.A fellow passenger who filmed the altercation, and requested to remain anonymous, said airline staff were “forced to resort to restraining and taping the mouth” of the woman, whose comments were allegedly “racist and vulgar” in nature.The passenger behind the camera said the situation unfolded about halfway into the 11-hour flight towards Nadi, after the woman started to “raise her voice” within the cabin.“It became known to crew and nearby passengers early into the incident that the woman was travelling with her husband, though they were sitting in different areas of the plane,” the witness, who was seated several rows away from the woman, claimed.“The husband requested to be seated elsewhere when the woman started to raise her voice, and the altercation between the woman and crew started when the crew refused to tell the woman where he had been moved to.”The witness told news.com.au the woman “caused great distress to all nearby passengers and crew by screaming and yelling abuse” as well as “threatening and throwing objects such as cups at crew members”.“She had also slapped the hands of a flight attendant,” the witness claimed.In the footage, crew can be seen trying to tape the woman’s mouth shut when she refused to stop yelling abuse.“The other p...