Thai AirAsia flight turns back after crew attacked with hot water

A Thai AirAsia flight bound for Nanjing, China was forced to return to Bangkok after a passenger assaulted a flight attendant by hurling hot water on her, according to The Associated Press.

In a statement issued on Friday, the budget airline said, an unruly passenger on a Thursday evening charter flight to Nanjing had berated the crew member before scalding her with the water.

She was given first aid treatment while the plane returned to Bangkok. She didn’t suffer any serious injuries.

The statement added, the incident began when a Chinese couple become enraged when they discovered they were not seated together on the flight. They were part of a large group and their seats were assigned in alphabetical order.

The issue was then resolved after flight attendants found the couple seats together.

But the drama did not end there.

Later during the flight, the woman had requested for hot water and doused it on the attending flight attendant.

“An unidentified female passenger assaulted the flight attendant with the hot liquid after becoming dissatisfied with the service.

“The caption of the flight decided to return the plane to Don Mueang Airport deeming her actions as endangering to other passengers and impending in-flight service,” the statement said.

The unruly passenger and her entourage were then asked to disembark.

According to TheNanfang.com, the flight had 174 passengers on board at the time of the incident. The website also reported witnesses saying the man had threatened to blow up the plane while the female passenger told other passengers she had wanted to commit suicide. This, it said, was what led to the decision to return to Bangkok.

But the statement from the budget airline made no mention of the bomb threat.

According to the Bangkok Post, the unruly passenger and the crew reached an “amicable conclusion” to the dispute after they were taken to the airport office.

The woman and her entourage then boarded another flight out of Thailand on Friday with no incident.