An All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight was forced to return to Tokyo, after an American passenger allegedly bit a female cabin crew member mid-flight on Tuesday.
The incident happened on the Seattle bound Flight ANA 118. The plane departed from Tokyo's Haneda airport at 9:47 local time and made a U-turn after a little over an hour into its journey.
A spokesperson for the airlines reported that the 55-year old passenger was "heavily drunk" when he bit the attendant's arm, slightly injuring her.
The man, whose name is yet to be disclosed, was arrested by police after the plane landed in the capital.
When asked about the incident, the man claimed that he could not recollect the incident as he had taken a sleeping pill during the flight.
The flight which carried 159 passengers on board was later rescheduled to Wednesday.
In a similar incident, two passengers were heavily fined in 2022 for biting and hitting the cabin crew members as well as the other passengers on separate flights with American Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
The Federal Aviation Administration fined $81,950 and $77,272 on the two passengers respectively. It was the two largest penalties levied by the agency against individual passengers.
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