Unruly SIA passenger blacklisted: 'Should not have let him on connecting flight in first place'

The Stomper had said the man should have been blacklisted and now he is.

The unruly Singapore Airlines (SIA) passenger who was escorted off the plane at Changi Airport after threatening the cabin crew in a viral video has been blacklisted after hitting a crew member on a connecting flight.

The passenger was given a verbal warning after the first incident on Nov 8.

The video of the incident has since garnered over 3 million views on TikTok.

Stomper James, who was on the SQ711 flight from Bangkok and took the video, told Stomp then that he thought a verbal warning was "too lenient".

"He did clearly mention he disregarded the laws of Singapore and threatened to push over the crew. That was very wrong and unacceptable behaviour. 

"Blacklist him."

And now SIA has.

According to the airline’s statement on Monday (Nov 14), after the first incident, the man appeared calm and agreed to behave for connecting flight SQ352, which was scheduled to depart from Singapore for Copenhagen last Wednesday (Nov 9), reported The Straits Times.

But once he was on board, he became disruptive again.

“In one instance, the passenger became aggressive and hit a cabin crew member,” said the SIA spokesman. “However, our cabin crew managed to calm the passenger down eventually.”

Contacted by Stomp after the latest incident, James said: "My opinion is that SIA and the ground security staff should not have let him on the connecting flight in the first place since he was already being unruly on the flight to Singapore. 

"They should have retained him to observe and investigate if he was on drugs or something that made him crazy. The hitting of the crew on the connecting flight could have been avoided."

SIA said the cabin crew member who was attacked later received medical attention and did not sustain any serious injuries.

The national carrier would continue to provide the necessary support to the crew member and has since decided to blacklist the passenger from all SIA flights.

The spokesman added: “Singapore Airlines takes the well-being of our staff and customers seriously. We will take appropriate action against any passenger who may risk the safety of our staff and customers.”