Passenger detained in Tahiti, banned from Qantas after biting flight attendant

A passenger has been detained in Tahiti and banned from future Qantas travel after a plane travelling on a long-haul flight from Australia to the US was diverted at the weekend after the man allegedly bit a flight attendant.

The QF21 flight left Melbourne at 2.30pm on Friday en route to Dallas and was diverted to Papeete in Tahiti seven hours later when the behaviour of the disruptive passenger forced it to land.

Passengers and other crew came to the assistance of the attendant during the alleged assault, a Qantas spokesperson said.

Upon arrival in Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, the plane was met by authorities and the passenger was issued a no-fly ban by Qantas, which includes any future Qantas and Jetstar flights.

The plane was refuelled and the flight resumed its journey to Dallas about 35 minutes later, arriving on Saturday morning.

The Qantas spokesperson said: “The safety of our customers and our crew is our number one priority and we have zero tolerance for disruptive or threatening behaviour on our flights.”

Consular officials from New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Guardian Australia they were aware of the detention of a New Zealander in Tahiti.

“For privacy reasons no further information will be provided,” a spokesperson said.

Footage uploaded to social media by the comedian Mike Goldstein showed a man in a heated exchange with cabin crew, repeatedly telling them to “fuck off” when they asked him to move to the back of the plane.

Standing in the aisle, he appeared to be stumbling and slurring his words, telling a flight attendant he had wanted to “walk out for a ciggie”. In response, the flight attendant said he was carrying on “like a two-bob watch”.

The footage did not show the alleged biting.

The case is among a spate of altercations on Australian flights, some of which have led to arrests.

Last month a Queanbeyan man was charged over alleged disorderly and aggressive behaviour that led to his mid-flight restraint while travelling from Canberra to Perth, which also included allegedly trying to bite the arm of another passenger.

The man, 45, is accused of shouting, swearing and ignoring safety instructions from airline crew during the flight on 16 April.

He further allegedly kicked at a cabin manager during attempts to restrain him and tried to bite the arm of another passenger who had been assisting with the restraint, Australian federal police said.

He was charged on three counts including assault on an aircraft crew member, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

An AFP acting superintendent, Peter Brindal, said at the time that antisocial or aggressive behaviour could be particularly concerning in the confines of a plane during a flight.

“Being in the air does not give anyone a free pass from the law and consequences on the ground,” he said. “The AFP … will put people before the courts if they are accused of breaking the law.”

In January AFP alleged that a Canberra woman on a flight to Perth had behaved erratically as the plane prepared to take off and went on to assault a cabin crew member. She was charged with one count of assaulting crew of an aircraft and one count of behaving in an offensive and disorderly manner on an aircraft.

A vape device also caused alarm, with a flight from Brisbane to Melbourne met by firefighters after landing in February.

The pilots of the Virgin Australia flight issued a “pan” call after a vape activated in the cabin during descent, with smoke seen coming from the device.