A woman determined not to miss her flight out of Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport was captured by security as she tried to chase the plane on the runway on Sunday.
Footage of the woman being restrained and then pushed down to the ground on the tarmac as she tries to catch up with the plane has quickly gone viral on Indonesian social media.
The flight, Citilink QG193, was heading for Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma Airport with a scheduled departure time of 7:10am.
Citilink, an Indonesian airline, has confirmed the incident.
“The incident began at 7:10am. A passenger who was late for her plane, broke through the boarding gate that had been guarded by Citilink officers and airport officials. Flight QG193 was scheduled to depart at 7:20am,” PT Citilink Indonesia VP Corporate & CSR Secretary, Ranty Astari R stated, as quoted by Liputan6.
The airline has not really addressed just how it could be so easy for a lone woman to break through the airport’s security and onto the tarmac.
After the woman was secured from the runway and declared “safe to fly,” Citilink moved her to flight QG683 Denpasar to Jakarta’s main airport, Soekarno-Hatta, at 4:40pm.
The airline, however, has denied that it gave a free ticket to the woman and says they just allowed her to reschedule her flight.
“No, it’s not a free ticket. The ticket was originally purchased by the passenger. We made changes to the schedule and route,” Ranty said.
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