Times are tough in Russia, with the economy suffering from international sanctions after Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine – a ‘special military operation’ that was supposed to be victorious in days but that has dragged on with little success and significant Russian losses over the course of a year.

The Russian airline industry hasn’t had access to most international markets, and hasn’t had legitimate access to spare parts. They’ve had to cannibalize pieces of parts of their fleet to keep the rest in the air.

So it’s almost understandable that a passenger on board one of Aeroflot’s two daily Stavropol – Moscow Airbus A320 flights would feel the need to smoke in the lavatory. When she was admonished for it – and getting up while the seat belt sign was on during turbulence – her first reaction was to appeal the decision to the pilots – by trying to break into the cockpit. When that didn’t work she stripped off her top and assaulted a flight attendant.

Video of the woman topless has been blurred:

Striptease of a passenger of the flight "Aeroflot" Stavropol – Moscow.
The woman smoked in the toilet, undressed and started to get into the pilots shouting that everyone would die. Then she bit the stewardess and spent the rest of the flight handcuffed. pic.twitter.com/DvEyUtp8OX

— PLANES OF LEGEND (@PlanesOfLegend) February 14, 2023

The crewmember ordered to to “take a seat and get dressed.” Clearly she didn’t like being told what to do, and she bit a flight attendant on the shoulder, causing him to bleed.

You might chalk this up to a mental episode, but she was certainly aware enough of her actions and their consequences, as she offered “I understand I’ll got to a mental hospital or to prison for trying this, but I demand to see the pilots.”

Passengers and crew managed to subdue her, she was restrained by cable ties for the rest of the flight, and police met the aircraft on arrival.

According to Aeroflot,

The passenger ignored repeated warnings from the crew and tried to break into the cockpit.

Due to the passenger’s destructive behaviour, the aircraft captain decided to use a means of restraint on her.

Aeroflot emphasizes that this case again proves the urgent need at the legislative level to toughen punishment for rowdy passengers, including creating a single blacklist of destructive passengers for all airlines.

Ironically, the Russian state-controlled flag carrier wants to take the same approach to unruly passengers the Biden administration and the CEO of Delta: once one airline bans a passenger, they should be banned from all airlines. Fortunately there are greater civil liberties protections in the United States and one private company cannot take away the right to travel.

(HT: Paul H.)