A bizarre incident aboard a Brussels Airlines flight has come to light this week. A video shared online seems to show an angry passenger verbally abusing various flight attendants over a lack of elbow space for his mother in law. The incident culminates in the passenger getting a slap from the purser on the flight, to which he retaliates by hitting her hard in the face, almost knocking her to the ground.

What happened?

According to reports, a completely out of control passenger slapped a flight attendant to the floor on a recent Brussels Airlines flight. The man, who has not been named, was allegedly angry about the fact his mother in law, who was also on the flight, was ‘being elbowed’ by her neighbors.

It’s a crazy scenario, not least as it wasn’t the passenger himself who was enduring the middle seat torture. In fact, we might not have believed it at all, were it not for the video evidence.

In a two minute long video shared online, the angry passenger begins by shouting at a male Brussels Airlines flight attendant. It seems the FA, and others on the plane, were attempting to get the irate passenger to sit back down.

In the audio, you can clearly hear the angry man screaming “Don’t put your hands on me”, while simultaneously shoving the male flight attendant around himself. Ironic, perhaps.

As the situation escalates, the passenger threatens to “beat the s***” out of the flight attendant. His wife begins yelling that the FA hit him first, and other passengers can be seen trying to control the angry passenger.

According to the Sun, the video was filmed by his wife. It seems bizarre that it has, therefore, ended up online for all the world to see her husband’s disrespectful behavior. Perhaps he annoyed her in some way?

In steps the purser

As the chaos shows no sign of abating, soon the more senior flight attendant, the purser, arrives on the scene. The lady, wearing a smart red uniform, attempts to defuse the situation with calm words, but is quickly told to “shut the f*** up” by the out of control passenger.

Pointing her finger in his face, the supervisor adopts a school-teacher manner and advises the passenger to listen and calm down. But this passenger is well beyond calming down by now.

The purser informs the passenger that she will call the police. However, the passenger and his wife maintain that it was the male flight attendant who started it, saying that he hit the passenger first. That doesn’t seem to be evidenced on the video, but who knows what went on before the woman pressed record?

By this point in time, there are at least two other flight attendants and some worried-looking passengers all trying to calm the man down.

Violence ensues

The whole situation proceeds to get a lot worse from here on in. The man, getting angrier and angrier, gets right up in the face of the purser. In fact, he gets so close that he begins to spit in her face as he shouts.

Then, as the flight attendant pauses to wipe spit from her face, it appears she slaps the man. While the view is slightly obscured due to the angle, she clearly lashes out at him which, whether prompted by fury or fear, is clearly a bad decision on her part.

But she doesn’t come off scot-free. The man instantly reacts, hitting her hard in the face and appearing to knock her to the floor. Instantly, several people and other flight attendants step in to restrain the man, which is just about where the video ends.

It’s a bizarre incident and one which seems unbelievable for so many reasons. Surely the flight attendants should have restrained the man long before it got this far? And surely the purser should never have raised a hand to a passenger? Even so, the passenger is likely to be in a whole lot of trouble for his part… we just wonder what the consequences for the slap-happy supervisor will be.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.