Scheduled to depart for China at 2:45am on Sept 10, a Scoot flight had to be delayed for two hours just because a woman allegedly refused to check in her severely overweight carry-on baggage.
The flight delay arising from the petty dispute affected about 300 passengers, but thankfully there wasn’t a violent kerfuffle ala United Airlines. Lianhe Wanbao reported that the passenger on flight TR166 — who looked to be in her twenties — had to be escorted out of the plane by the police following her quarrel with the stewardess and the plane’s captain.
What reportedly transpired was that the lady brought along four pieces of luggage with her (with one even weighing 30kg), despite regulations limiting passengers to a maximum of 10kg each for baggages brought onto the cabin. A stewardess had asked her to check her overweight luggage in, but she was bluntly turned away.
This, according to a passenger on the flight who recounted the incident on social media:
“As she was placing her luggage into the overhead compartment, I heard her say to a stewardess, ‘Am I wrong? So what if I’m wrong?’ The stewardess left without saying anything.”
Though the lady complied after arguing and eventually apologizing, another stewardess entered the cabin with a uniformed man soon after and ordered the troublesome passenger off the plane. An announcement was made, stating that the passenger breached safety protocols and would have to exit the flight. Probably because the woman reportedly refused to reveal what was in her luggage when the flight captain questioned her.
The delay was also due to the fact that the airline staff needed assistance from the police, who arrived later to escort the woman and her luggage out.
The plane took off for the city of Shenyang, China, as soon as she alighted.
