KEY POINTS:
Air New Zealand's security has been called into question with at least one formal complaint over its handling of an aggressive passenger during a domestic flight this week.
Former All Black Ofisa Junior Tonu'u and another man restrained the man by sitting over him as flight NZ417 landed at Wellington Airport on Monday.
Police have decided not to charge the aggressive man, 42, because he suffers from a mental condition and had not taken medication.
However, the Herald has learned the airline has received a formal complaint for allowing the man on a previous flight from Tokyo to Auckland despite the fact he was acting "psychotic' and "aggressive" moments before boarding.
An Auckland woman, who did not want to be named, said she lodged the complaint with Air New Zealand on Monday, hours after hearing about the in-flight attack. The airline had not responded to her complaint last night.
The woman said she had watched as the man stormed out of a gate lounge area before boarding in Tokyo.
"We were all quite shocked by what had happened. It was so aggressive. All of us were kind of looking down because I felt that if I looked at him he would have punched me.
"I was actually quite scared about getting on the plane. He was completely out of control. He was delusional, psychotic, violent."
She said she did not tell airline staff about her concerns at the time but became worried and felt guilty when she learned the man went on to punch another passenger on his next flight.
A passenger on the flight to Wellington, Waitakere City Councillor Ross Dallow, said he had concerns about the airline's ability to cope with in-flight incidents.
Mr Dallow, a former police superintendent in charge of the Waitakere area, said he had not made a formal complaint with the airline. But he said he was disturbed by the incident and the airline's handling of it.
The man became violent when the plane was coming in to land, punching a man sitting near elderly passengers and a baby, he said. "That to me is very serious and I don't think Air New Zealand have actually played their part. I'm also not happy with women stewards dealing with a violent man. If it takes an 18-stone, super-fit man to subdue him, what can an eight-stone woman do?"
Air New Zealand spokeswoman Tracey Palmer said: "As you can imagine, this is a difficult issue for us to help you with simply because we would need the name of the passenger who you are talking about in Tokyo to know if it is the same person who was on NZ417.
"Nevertheless, we have spoken with the flight service manager on the Tokyo flight as well as the airport manager and ground staff. No incidents were noted that gave any staff member concern about any passenger."
