Reclined seat sparks fight on Jetstar flight

A man and a woman face life bans from all Qantas network carriers after allegedly brawling in business class on a flight bound for Sydney.

Passenger Scott Haywood told 3AW he and other passengers onboard the flight from Thailand were forced to intervene and separate the duo after fists flew over a reclined seat.

“One of the passengers dropped their seat back the full extent, it was a night flight,” Mr Haywood said.

“That wasn’t overly impressed by the other passenger who gave the seat a few clips to indicate ‘I want that seat moved back up’.”

The two people, travelling with two separate families, then met in the aisle and started to fight.

“You’re sitting there watching a movie and then wow, whack,” Mr Haywood said.

“There was only about a half a metre of aisle to get some room.”

Australian Federal Police have confirmed a 27-year-old man and 42-year-old woman were detained at Sydney Airport.

“Our crew on board acted quickly and the customers were separated for the remainder of the flight,” a Jetstar spokesperson said.

“We don’t tolerate disruptive behaviour by passengers on our flights.”

Mr Haywood said the incident was distressing for himself and those around him who were forced to intervene about halfway into the flight.

In unrelated news, a Qantas flight bound for Sydney was diverted to Honolulu due to a medical emergency on Thursday night.

Flight QF8 left Dallas in Texas at 9.15pm on Wednesday local time, but two hours into the flight, the decision was made to divert the plane.

It is not yet clear when the Airbus A380 will be able to continue on to Sydney for the remainder of the 16-hour trip.