A woman had to be restrained for six hours on a flight after assaulting three other passengers, including an eight-year-old boy.
Louise Dixon, 51, faces jail time after she became drunk and disruptive onboard the Virgin Atlantic flight from Miami to London Heathrow, throwing a full water bottle at a child’s head “with some force”.
The mother of two from Ogmore-by-Sea near Bridgend, Wales, also attempted to hit several other passengers.
Jackie Allen, who was sitting behind Dixon, said: “I found her behaviour was alarming, very frightening. She then turned in her seat in front of me and raised her fist to hit me.”
Uxbridge Magistrates Court, where the case is being tried, heard that Dixon was only prevented from doing so by another male passenger who grabbed her wrists.
The college worker also assaulted passenger Gabriella Cotton while she was being restrained, kicking her in the hip, digging her nails into Cotton’s wrists and spitting at her.
“The whole incident was quite shocking to them,” said prosecutor Syreta Maharaj.
She described it as a “prolonged incident”, adding that passengers on board the flight were “trapped”.
Dixon became drunk after hearing that her flight from Miami on 12 April would be busy.
Just 20 minutes into the flight she started acting “strangely”, the court heard, before she began lashing out at fellow passengers.
Dixon was restrained and put in handcuffs, and the pilot seriously considered diverting the flight to New York.
Although Dixon pleaded guilty to the assaults, her defence council argued that she suffers from alcoholism and turned to drink when she learned the flight would be busy.
“It coincides with her divorce, with her very difficult relationship bringing up her children and from that time, over time a dependence of alcohol,” said Paul Brill, mitigating.
“She is mortified at being in this position.”
Virgin Atlantic said in a statement: “The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our top priority, and we will not tolerate disruptive or abusive behaviour onboard any Virgin Atlantic aircraft. We continue to work closely with the relevant authorities and will always seek prosecution for those individuals that cause disruption to our services through unacceptable behaviour.”
Dixon has been released on unconditional bail and will be sentenced next month.
