Abdul Ali will be deported back to Australia after pleading guilty Tuesday to causing a disturbance while on a flight from China to Vancouver.
The 25-year-old Australian man was arrested by Richmond RCMP when the plane landed at Vancouver International Airport Saturday.
He was accused of being drunk and attacking other travelers on the flight before one passenger jumped in to restrain him for three hours.
Ali was sentenced to time served as well as a two- year probation banning him from drinking within 24 hours of getting on any Canadian plane or any flight to Canada. Ali told the court he’s very sorry for causing such embarrassment and shame.
Ali’s family said he was served too much alcohol on the plane and would not have normally acted in such a violent manner.
“He's ashamed of what he's done and feels really bad for the mistake he's made and he's learning his lesson,” said Ali’s aunt Farrah Ibrahim.
Ali’s cousin Javed Hussein was on the flight with Ali and said he tried to intervene.
“I tried to stop him, we tried to stop him at the time, it just was too late,”Hussein said.
A spokesperson for China Southern Airlines said Ali was drinking from a bottle of Chivas Regal he had brought on board, and they tried unsuccessfuly to get him to stop drinking.
Flight attendants are worried about Air Canada's attempt to reduce the number of staff required on flights. Current regulations require one flight attendant for 40 passengers. Air Canada wants to follow what WestJet has already done and change the ratio to one flight attendant per 50 passengers.
The union representing flight attendants said this change could lead to even more outbursts in the air.
“Space is the same but there's more and more passengers being put on the plane,” said union president Antonius Lam. “And so, that increases the chance of people getting more upset,” adding, “The more professionally trained crew members onboard, the more safe the passengers will be in terms of dealing with emergency situations.”
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Mi-Jung Lee.
