Think twice before complaining on your next Korean Air flight – flight crew can now use Tasers to deal with mid-air disturbances.
The airline has made the decision to loosen its Taser usage policy after a violent incident on a flight last week resulted in 80s pop star Richard Marx having to subdue an unruly passenger.
On-board crew already have had Tasers on hand for years but could only use them when lives or the physical safety of passengers and cabin crew was threatened.
But new rules will allow for “more active use” of Tasers, a Korea Air spokesperson told CNN.
Employees will also get routine training in security gear, and the male to female ratio of flight crew will be reviewed. Passengers who cause a disturbance will be banned for an indeterminate period.
The announcement comes one week after Marx had to help restrain a passenger on board a Korea Air flight. Reports of the incident – and Marx’s scathing assessment of the flight crew’s performance – went viral.
The man was tied up with ropes, but broke free of them three times, according to Marx’s wife, 90s MTV VJ Daisy Fuentes.
“A completely ill-prepared and untrained crew for a situation like this. Four hours of a psycho passenger attacking crew members and other passengers,” Marx wrote on his Facebook page.
But at the time, Korean Air defended its flight attendants’ training, saying they had followed “response protocol” until police boarded at Incheon International Airport.
“The flight attendant considered the safety of the other passengers and decided to restrain the passenger with ropes (rather than a Taser),” the statement said.
