An incident on a flight operated by Spring Airlines led to an emergency landing in Japan, when a passenger attempted to sit next to his partner and clashed with the crew for approximately two hours.
The argument began during boarding when the man expressed strong complaints about his seat assignment. Immediately after takeoff from Narita Airport around 7:00 PM, he continued pressuring flight attendants to exchange seats with another passenger who had refused.
Despite repeated attempts by the crew to convince him to remain in his assigned seat until Shanghai, the argument escalated and lasted nearly two hours after takeoff. The situation did not de-escalate, forcing the pilot to notify Japanese authorities and decide to turn the Boeing 737 around, returning to Narita Airport.
Video footage from the cabin shows flight attendants trying to control the tension just before police arrived. The aircraft landed around 11:00 PM, while the passenger was arrested and removed by authorities.
Passengers stranded all night – “We were just 30 minutes from Shanghai…”
“There was no information, no dialogue. We only heard that the plane was turning back because of one person obstructing the crew,” an frustrated passenger told local media. “We were just 30 minutes from Shanghai. He could have calmed down so we could all reach our destination.”
Passengers were forced to disembark and remained stranded at the airport all night, waiting for the next available flight scheduled for 10 AM the following day.
According to passengers, the airline offered compensation of just 49 pounds without providing accommodation. Many were forced to sleep on airport seats and benches.
