More In Flight Fights

A seat reclining into the "personal space" of another passenger caused a bout of mile-high anger, causing a fight to break out on a United Airlines Boeing 767 bound for Ghana from Dulles International Airport.

Peacemaking flight attendants and other passengers ran around the cabin in an attempt to intervene, after a fight started with a slap to the head, when an offended passenger complained a reclining passenger seat was 'intimately close' to his lap. A pair of Air Force F-16 fighter jets raced into the night skies over Washington to accompany the plane back to Dulles airport.

U.S.A. Navy Lieutenant Commander, William Lewis, spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command said the F-16 fighters "Were just following typical procedures when you have disturbances. It's pretty commonplace whenever there's an airspace violation." What the fighter jets were exactly expected to do is an unanswered question.

Most of Boeing 767's 16,700 gallons of fuel was dumped by to lighten its load, before returning to Dulles airport where the irritated brawlers were grabbed by Dulles Police officers.

"Officers determined that the incident didn't warrant pressing charges," said Rob Yingling, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

In November 2010 a man on an American Airlines flight got so upset about a reclined seat that he pulled another man's ear so strongly that the man's glasses came off. Tomislav Zelenovic was accused of one count of "assault by striking, beating, or wounding on an aircraft," and faced up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Hong Kong flight crews are now being given training in Kung Fu. Perhaps they will have to deal with more than just angry passengers.

After a huge rat was discovered on board an Air Canada flight bound for London from Ottawa in February 2011, passengers were ordered off the aircraft.

Stowaway rats were discovered in the emergency medical equipment on a Boeing 767 that was about to board its passengers.

"It is obviously not a common occurrence,'' a Qantas spokesman stated after the jet was grounded and the passengers had left for another flight.

Health inspectors located rodent droppings in April 2011 ‘too numerous to count' close by a Delta Airline jet’s food and drink storage area.

In February 2011 passengers were asked to deplane off an Air Canada flight bound for London from Ottawa following the discovery of a huge rat on board.

In March 2010 a colony of cockroaches was found in the first class section of American Airlines.

In June 2011 a woman passenger was told she would have to wait 5 – 10 days for a reply, after being made to apply for an online refund. She had found her Jetstar airline meal, enroute to Singapore, contaminated with the larvae of a beetle.