A New Zealand grandmother arrested for a drunken mile-high rage has been ordered to pay Qantas A$18,245 (NZ$23,543), the amount she cost the airline when she forced a Wellington-bound flight back to Melbourne.
Frances Macaskill, 58, needed to be strapped to a chair by flight crew after she punched a
passenger in the face on Saturday morning.
In Melbourne Magistrates Court today, Magistrate Luisa Bazzani ordered Macaskill to pay restitution to the airline, fined her an additional A$3500 and sentenced her to four months jail suspended after two years.
Ms Bazzani described Macaskill's behaviour as "appalling'' and said some passengers on board the plane would have felt particularly vulnerable, local media reported.
Macaskill had pleaded guilty to one charge of offensive and disorderly behaviour on board an aircraft and one charge of assault over the air rage incident.
