Abusive plane passenger leaves 267 holidaymakers stranded in Bali

An unruly passenger who caused a mid-air drama on a flight from Melbourne to Bali left 267 holidaymakers stranded at the airport.

A male passenger reportedly assaulted three cabin crew members mid-air on a Jetstar flight to Bali, which took off from Melbourne at around 6pm on Wednesday.

As a result of the incident, a return flight from Bali to Brisbane was cancelled, leaving 267 disgruntled passengers stuck in Bali.

One of the crew members took themselves off duty after the in-flight drama, meaning the 11.35pm Bali to Brisbane flight was not able to go ahead as Civil Aviation Safety Authority rules dictate there must be eight crew members, and the flight only had seven.

A spokesman told news.com.au: "Our crew are trained to deal with these situations and handled the incident professionally.

"Due to the nature of the incident and in the interest of crew wellbeing, a return flight from Bali to Brisbane was cancelled.

"All 267 passengers were provided with accommodation in Bali and have been re-accommodated on services departing today."

Passengers expressed their incredulity that another crew member could not be found, but the airline said it made every effort to find another staff member, but that it did not have a large crew base in Bali.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the plane returned to Australia empty.

The unruly passenger was denied entry into Indonesia, and will be deported, reports Sky News.

Jetstar are liaising with the Australian Federal Police on the incident.

Back in 2012, a mob of angry passengers held a Jetstar pilot and crew hostage at Shanghai airport after their flight was unexpectedly diverted due to bad weather.

Heavy fog forced the Jetstar pilot to make an unscheduled stop en route to Beijing, where passengers were asked to disembark. But according to reports, many refused, and some of them decided to take action.

The Daily Telegraph reported that the cabin crew were held by a group of passengers for more than six hours, until finally police and consular officials were called in for assistance.

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