An unruly and threatening passenger on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Vancouver flight last week found himself being restrained by a boyfriend and girlfriend couple who just so happened to be Austrian police officers working for the State Police Directorate of Lower Austria.
Just two hours into the more than 10-hour flight, the disruptive passenger suddenly started making threats and endangering the safety of the flight. By this point, the Lufthansa operated Airbus A340 aircraft had passed Scotland and was over the water of the Atlantic ocean heading towards Iceland.
Rather than diverting the plane to deal with the unruly passenger, the Captain and flight attendants managed to get the help of a police couple who were travelling on the flight off-duty and going on a vacation in nada.
CaAustria’s Ministry of the Interior says the two police officers used specialist ‘operational techniques’ to overwhelm the suspect and then restrained him using devices kept onboard the aircraft.
“I am proud of our two employees – their intervention was courageous, intelligent and courageous,” commented Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner about the incident.
The couple then had to help monitor the suspect for the rest of the flight before it landed without further incident in Vancouver and he was taken into custody by Canadian authorities. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have not said what charges if any, the unruly passenger faces.
Although it might seem surprising, the Captain of the flight declined further assistance from the Canadian military and chose not to divert the aircraft to a closer airport to offload the suspect.
Unlike inflight medical emergencies that often necessitate a quick and unexpected landing, some pilots are happy to continue flying to their intended destination if they are satisfied that an unruly passenger has been properly restrained and no longer poses a threat to the safety of the flight.
