Drunk Airline Passenger Punched Flight Attendant After Denied Alcohol On Plane

A British Airways passenger, accused of physically assaulting a flight passenger and verbally abusing other cabin crew members during a flight from London to Cape Town, appeared before the court Wednesday.

During her appearance at the at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court, Emma Langford, 47, of Hook, Hampshire, admitted to being drunk, behaving in a threatening manner toward the aircraft crew and criminal damage, during the flight on Dec. 6. However, she denied other charges against her – three counts of assault by beating, the Sun reported.

About half an hour after the flight in question took off, the accused was said to have approached one of the flight attendants requesting an alcoholic beverage. Since the businesswoman already “smelt of alcohol,” the crew rejected her request, which was when she started behaving erratically.

Prosecutor Zara Khan read out a statement from flight crew member Matthew Richardson in the court.

"She [Langford] said she had been on the aircraft for 'ages' and wanted something to drink. I informed her the bar was about to commence, I could smell alcohol on her so I asked her if she had already been drinking,” the statement read, adding that at the time the accused denied being drunk on the flight.

"She approached me with a puffed up chest and was behaving erratically. I instructed her I was not willing to discuss this further. She kept moving closer toward me. I asked a cabin crew assistant to come closer to me because I was becoming increasingly concerned. I asked her to calm down. Miss Langford ran towards Monique, another cabin crew member, and chased her away. She then returned to me and then punched me on my left collar bone three times,” the statement added.

Richardson added in his statement that the accused was asked to return to her seat multiple times but she kept on coming back, demanding the crew serve her alcohol. At one point, she verbally abused one of the attendants, Poppy Haynes, before proceeding to assault her as well as Richardson.

"From the seat, she punched at me then hitting me on my arms and hands and I'm aware Miss Haynes was assaulted by the customer. A short while later she got up again in the galley area shouting more abuse at me and my colleagues. She tipped up a drawer full of plates onto the floor and lifted trays of glasses onto the floor causing some of them to break,” his statement read.

When Langford was handed a violation notice by airline staff, she ripped it up. Her behavior got so out of hand that she had to be restrained in her seat for the rest of the journey.

Langford was scheduled to appear back in court in August for a two-day trial.