Jetstar flight turns around after erratic man prompts argument about Israel conflict

Passengers on board the Jetstar flight reportedly grew uncomfortable with the conflict and crew decided to return to Sydney.

A Jetstar flight bound for Melbourne was forced to turn around and remove all passengers after one man’s unruly behaviour caused passengers to feel unsafe.

Flight JQ501 was due to fly from Sydney to Melbourne on Tuesday, October 17 at 6.20am. After all passengers were on board, the aircraft was preparing for takeoff when one man began acting erratically and another brought up the Middle East conflict.

The man reportedly started demanding a seat change and then said he wanted to go to the toilet, which is not allowed during take off. Another passenger allegedly told the man to “get over himself” and mentioned there were bigger issues in the world such as the war in Palestine.

Passengers on board reportedly grew uncomfortable with the conflict and crew made the decision to return to the Sydney Airport gate and call the Australian Federal Police.

Passengers were removed from the flight while AFP performed checks. When it was time to reboard and resume the flight, not all passengers decided to continue their journey. Several passengers, including the erratically behaving man, decided not to reboard.

It was later revealed the passenger was anxious about flying and thus behaved unusually, a Jetstar spokesperson said.

“We now understand the customer was a nervous flyer and was experiencing anxiety,” they said.

“We also understand the situation made some other people onboard feel uneasy and they also decided not to continue with their journey.

“As a result of this we had to delay the flight and apologise to customers for the inconvenience.”

Scherri Simpson, a woman on the flight, described the situation as “pretty scary” to The Today Show.

“I was quite concerned, you don’t expect this on a domestic flight in Australia,” she said.

Simpson said she travelled quite a lot but was instantly worried when things turned unusual, saying it reminded her of 9/11.

Others on the flight told 2GB the mention of the Palestine war made things especially tense.

No arrests were made.