According to the New Zealand Herald, Henrietta Mitaiare, 23, and her mother Mary Roberts, 53, flew with the Swiss International Air Lines, the flag carrier of Switzerland, from Zurich to London on May 2, 2019. Before the flight departed from Zurich, Mitaiare got into an argument with two female airport staffers over not being able to bring her child’s stroller onto the plane. A court hearing at the Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court in Uxbridge, England, revealed that Mitaiare boarded the plane with her three-year-old child without the stroller.
When Mitaiare landed in London, she demanded to know the names of the two female airport staffers in Zurich so she could file a complaint. However, when the captain of the flight, Guido Keel, told Mitaiare that she could use his name in the complaint instead, she said the issue had “nothing to do with him” and shoved him into the cockpit. During the ensuing physical altercation, Mitaiare allegedly bit the pilot on the arm, and her mother allegedly bit a flight attendant’s finger.
"It was like a battlefield, there were shoes on the floor and some buttons," the plane's co-pilot Friederich Preiler told the Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court.
"I saw some hair and two telephones. I saw blood on the captain's neck. I saw that he had scratches. I saw that the pilot's shirt was full of blood. I saw on the hand that there was more blood,” Preiler explained.
Flight attendant Ali Chkerdaa, who was approached by the women after landing at Heathrow International Airport in London for information on how to file a complaint, also got involved in the dispute.
"The moment he [Keel] touched her she went all crazy, 'don't touch me.' I don't know if he touched her, but he put his hand towards this side between her arm and shoulder,” Chkerdaa testified.
Mitaiare also stated during the altercation that “Swiss people are racist,” Chkerdaa added.
"There was ground staff from London, I asked him to help me so we could pull her [Mitaiare] out, but we couldn't. I couldn't pull her out, so I asked him to call the police, and in the meantime there was a woman working as ground staff, and she came to help me," Chkerdaa explained, describing the altercation between Mitaiare and Keel.
"When they were fighting, she [Roberts] bit me on my finger, but we were able to pull the jacket on top of her head. Because we could not pull her out from the cockpit."
The altercation allegedly continued until police officers arrived at the scene, even though other members of the flight staff and ground crew tried to end it. The trial is currently ongoing.