The passengers lashed out at cabin crew after they became enraged over sitting arrangements on a charter flight from Bangkok to Nanjing.
A video clip has emerged showing an angry man making a threat to blow up the plane as two women attempt to restrain him.The Thai AirAsia flight to eastern China was forced to return to Bangkok after an unruly female passenger assaulted the flight attendant, the budget airline said.
It said a Chinese passenger berated the woman before scalding her with water.
Photos posted on the Weibo social-networking website show a flight attendant covering her face and a man carrying a girl through the aircraft cabin while being escorted by police.
The passengers were reportedly upset after being told they couldn't sit together and they lashed out even after a flight attendant helped them change the seats.
But the man accused of making the threat later said the attendant was scalded by accident during a tussle over a receipt they had requested for the hot water.
Colleagues administered first aid while the plane returned to Bangkok, where the female passenger and her entourage of three people were kicked off the flight, causing a delay of more than five hours for other travellers.
The airline said staff spoke with the passengers inside the terminal and they came to an 'amicable' resolution.
In a scathing statement, China’s National Tourism Administration said the tourists disrupted the flight, hurt other passengers and ‘badly damaged the overall image of the Chinese people.’
The Chinese tourism administration did not say what punishment the tourists could face, but the statement suggested that the lead tour guide for the trip be punished for failing to offer proper behaviour guidance and that the tourists be blacklisted for bad credit.
It comes at a time when the Chinese are traveling more but also becoming notorious for rough behaviour. More than 100 million people from China have travelled overseas this year, more than any other country.
Incidents involving Chinese tourists making angry outbursts have prompted Beijing to issue stern guidelines on behaving abroad.
During a recent visit to the Maldives, President Xi Jinping asked the Chinese not to litter and destroy coral reefs.
