A British woman received six months in jail for allegedly going on a drunken rant aboard an Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi to Manchester.
According to the Mirror, 20-year-old Demi Burton was already intoxicated when she boarded the flight in May 2019. Despite being drunk, Burton decided to continue to order wine from the flight attendants. She reportedly got so wasted that she began to proposition men to join her in the plane's bathroom so they could become members of the mile-high club.
"She started making a number of inappropriate sexual comments to a number of male passengers on the flight," prosecutor Claire Brocklebank said to the court. "Two in particular remember hearing comments and at first they laughed it off but it then became more and more increasingly inappropriate and she asked them to join the mile high club."
These antics reportedly led to those around Burton asking her to be quiet. Eventually the flight crew informed her that she was not allowed to order any more alcohol. The fact she was being cut off infuriated Burton. She started to verbally and physically attack the employees, kicking and headbutting them.
"You may as well just land the plane now then!" Burton allegedly shouted.
Passengers also stepped in to help the crew. One attempted to restrain Burton, but she bit him in the elbow. The man, an anesthesiologist, described the scene as "worse than anything he’d seen" in an emergency room. Other passengers were kicked and bitten before six crew members were able to subdue her. Burton was immediately handed over to authorities when the plane landed.
"It was a stressful situation but whilst I managed to remain calm and professional, it’s not acceptable for crew members to be treated this way and not fair on the other passengers to witness things like this," flight attendant Fouzia Naim said, per the Telegraph.
Burton was traveling home after spending three months with family in Australia. She claimed she was drinking to calm her fear of flying.
"She is thoroughly ashamed of herself and because she is remorseful, she is utterly embarrassed at the way she behaved. It is completely out of character as far as she is concerned," her attorney Martin Callery said. "She went to Australia to get away from her family who have behaved towards her from her early years in a very controlling and very abusive way."
Judge John Edwards sentenced Burton to six months in jail for her actions. "Good order on any flight, in particular a long distance one, is essential and those who undermine that put that at risk by behaving in such crass way," Edwards said. "I’m afraid you have to be dealt with in a way that might deter others."
