Chiswick man avoids jail after plane fracas

Akbar Aghgaleh being escorted off the place by police

Akbar Aghgaleh lost his temper when he was not served coffee on an Air Canada flight in August

A man from Chiswick has avoided going to jail after being arrested for creating a scene on a plane, in which he was belligerent and swore at cabin crew.

Iranian national Akbar Aghgaleh, 61, was on an Air Canada flight from Montreal to Heathrow when he confronted cabin crew member Kaitlin Knights-Fullum over not being served coffee.

He had his ‘fists clenched in a fighting stance’ Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court heard, and can be seen in a video on Facebook yelling:

“I need my f***ing coffee. Get me the f***ing supervisor.. Oh you’re the f***ing supervisor”.

After being told to calm down, he shouted: ‘I am f***ing calm. I am f***ing calm. If we aren’t landing in five minutes, I am going to sue your f***ing ass.’

When they landed, he was arrested.

Aghgaleh did not attend his trial and in his absence he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment, using threatening or abusive words towards crew while in an aircraft and using threatening or abusive words.

Adeal Mahmood, prosecuting, told the court:

“Kaitlin Knights-Fullum asked the defendant to calm down and to put his seat belt on, but the defendant refused. He stood up straight with his fists clenched with his chest out and appeared to be in a fighting stance.

“Her colleague, Vincent Leveille, felt that the defendant may have tried to attack Kaitlin”.

Bodycam footage of his arrest which was played in court shows him shouting:

“Gypsy Canada. Gypsy Canada. Gypsy Canadians”, as he pointed his phone at passengers while he escorted off the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Aghgaleh told an earlier hearing:

“During the flight I asked five times for a coffee to take my medication. Then my wife even mentioned that it’s my medication”.

Kaitlin Knights-Fullum told the court that when he got angry, they had already finished serving and were preparing for the descent, but that she had offered him water.

Magistrate Judy Gregg fined him £483, with costs of £650 and fined him £193 for not turning up at court, a total of £1,326.

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