Fact Check: Viral video of brawl inside plane is not from Hyderabad Airport

An X user posted the video and wrote, “Clash and tension in a flight at Shamshabad International Airport. Passengers were seen jostling for seats and the fellow passengers fell victim to the chaos.” (Translated from Telugu) (Archive)

The 51-second video shows passengers arguing in Hindi, which soon escalates into a physical altercation. Cabin crew members can be seen intervening to calm the situation.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim was false. The video is from a 2022 incident on a Thai Smile Airways flight from Bangkok to Kolkata.

NewsMeter spoke to Hyderabad airport authorities who confirmed that the video was not from RGIA.

A reverse image search of the video's keyframes led us to an X post, dated December 28, 2022, with the caption, “A clash occurred among passengers on a Thai Smile Airways flight between Bangkok and India. It is not certain when the video was made.” (Translated from Hindi)

This indicated that the video was old.

Using this as a clue, we did a keyword search and found a report by The Times of India titled, ‘Flyers fight on Thai flight to Kolkata; BCAS starts probe,’ published on December 30, 2022.

The report included the viral video footage. According to the report, the incident began when an Indian passenger refused to adjust his reclined seat before takeoff, leading to an argument with a flight attendant on the Bangkok-Kolkata flight. The disagreement escalated into a physical altercation involving other passengers who intervened to ‘teach him a lesson.’

The report further mentioned that the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) initiated a suo motu investigation following the incident and registered a case with the airport police in Kolkata.

Another report by The Hindu – Business Line, titled, ‘Scuffle onboard plane from Bangkok to Kolkata, video of incident shared widely on social media,’ was published on December 29, 2022.

The report stated that, according to a passenger on the flight, the incident occurred on December 26, just before the plane began taxiing to the runway for takeoff.

A report by Hindustan Times titled ‘Feel sorry for this’: Thai airline's apology for ugly mid-air fight’ was published on December 29, 2022, in which the airline reportedly issued an apology regarding the incident.

The report stated that a Twitter account associated with Thai Smile Airways posted, “THAI Smile Airways feels sorry for this. We reaffirm that the incident has been addressed as we adhered to flight safety procedures in line with international standards. Our flight crews have already offered support to those affected by the incident.”

We also found the same X post shared by the airline's account on December 29, 2022.

Economic Times and Business Today reported the same incident.

Hence, the claim that the viral video shows a fight at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is false.