Narrative:

Passengers were 'normal' boarding. At the end of boarding; a foreign lady came on board. Agent shut the forward door. The #1 flight attendant informed me (#3 flight attendant) that the passenger was in seat xxc had been drinking per the agent; but that the agent boarded passenger anyway because passenger promised to be good. I at this point spoke to #1 and said 'why did agent board a passenger that had the appearance of intoxication?' I went to check on the passenger to see what she looked like since we had been warned about her from the agent. When I arrived at seat xxc the passenger was talking animatedly at all involved around her. She stuck her hand out towards the male in seat three rows behind her. The male tried to ignore her but it was unavoidable. I informed the #1 flight attendant that it appeared the passenger was really bothering the passengers around her. We started taxiing. The #4 flight attendant was walking the aisles when she came to xxc. I was not back there at this point. I was talking to the #1 flight attendant. The #4 quickly comes to first class and stated 'the passenger needs to come off.' the #4 says xxc is bothering passengers around her. #1 calls the captain at her jumpseat and tells him we need to go back to the gate. So; we taxi back to the gate. The gate agent comes on board along with a manager. The #4 goes to the seat xxc. It takes gate agents and a supervisor several minutes before the lady gets up out of her seat and begins moving forward towards first class to exit. When the passenger in xxc makes it to first class; she drops/places her bag on the floor of first class and says she doesn't want to get off. The gate agent tells her sternly to get off. The passenger picks up her bag and exits the aircraft. Passenger then turns around after stepping off aircraft and looks at myself the #1 and says 'I hope your plane crashes.' someone said 'what did you say?' and passenger repeats the statement 'I hope your plane crashes.' she also raises her arms up in the air and jesters towards us. Agent and supervisor for agents all heard her say this. One of them started saying something to her. Agent then re-closes the door and we went on our merry way. The whole incident should never have made it as far as passenger being boarded. The agent very much knew that the passenger was drunk (had been drinking). The passenger should never have been boarded. There is nothing open at this airport that early in the morning to have a drink of alcohol. Passenger must have been drinking since last night. The agent should have never asked the passenger 'would she be good?' once the passenger was intoxicated; it doesn't matter is she is going to be good. She's intoxicated and can't be boarded. Also; I noticed that we let this same passenger fly on the same day on another flight. Why? Why would we let a passenger that has already caused an aircraft to go back to the gate to travel on the same day? Why would we let a passenger travel at all the turns around we she is removed and says twice with hands moving 'I hope your plane crashes.' this is such a ridiculous string of events. Passenger should never have been boarded. Don't board intoxicated passengers or passenger that tell flight crew 'I hope your plane crashes.' as a side note; I noticed in the passenger pnr that she is claiming discrimination. That couldn't be further from the truth. She was removed solely because she was intoxicated.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Flight Attendant reported that an intoxicated passenger was knowingly boarded by the gate agent with a verbal notice that the passenger would 'behave'. When the passenger became a nuisance during taxi out; the aircraft returned to the gate and had the passenger removed.

Narrative: Passengers were 'normal' boarding. At the end of boarding; a foreign lady came on board. Agent shut the forward door. The #1 Flight Attendant informed me (#3 Flight Attendant) that the passenger was in seat XXC had been drinking per the agent; but that the agent boarded passenger anyway because passenger promised to be good. I at this point spoke to #1 and said 'why did agent board a passenger that had the appearance of intoxication?' I went to check on the passenger to see what she looked like since we had been warned about her from the agent. When I arrived at seat XXC the passenger was talking animatedly at all involved around her. She stuck her hand out towards the male in seat three rows behind her. The male tried to ignore her but it was unavoidable. I informed the #1 Flight Attendant that it appeared the passenger was really bothering the passengers around her. We started taxiing. The #4 Flight Attendant was walking the aisles when she came to XXC. I was not back there at this point. I was talking to the #1 Flight Attendant. The #4 quickly comes to first class and stated 'the passenger needs to come off.' The #4 says XXC is bothering passengers around her. #1 calls the Captain at her jumpseat and tells him we need to go back to the gate. So; we taxi back to the gate. The gate agent comes on board along with a Manager. The #4 goes to the seat XXC. It takes gate agents and a Supervisor several minutes before the lady gets up out of her seat and begins moving forward towards first class to exit. When the passenger in XXC makes it to first class; she drops/places her bag on the floor of first class and says she doesn't want to get off. The gate agent tells her sternly to get off. The passenger picks up her bag and exits the aircraft. Passenger then turns around after stepping off aircraft and looks at myself the #1 and says 'I hope your plane crashes.' Someone said 'what did you say?' And passenger repeats the statement 'I hope your plane crashes.' She also raises her arms up in the air and jesters towards us. Agent and Supervisor for agents all heard her say this. One of them started saying something to her. Agent then re-closes the door and we went on our merry way. The whole incident should never have made it as far as passenger being boarded. The agent very much knew that the passenger was drunk (had been drinking). The passenger should never have been boarded. There is nothing open at this airport that early in the morning to have a drink of alcohol. Passenger must have been drinking since last night. The agent should have never asked the passenger 'would she be good?' Once the passenger was intoxicated; it doesn't matter is she is going to be good. She's intoxicated and can't be boarded. Also; I noticed that we let this same passenger fly on the same day on another flight. Why? Why would we let a passenger that has already caused an aircraft to go back to the gate to travel on the same day? Why would we let a passenger travel at all the turns around we she is removed and says twice with hands moving 'I hope your plane crashes.' This is such a ridiculous string of events. Passenger should never have been boarded. Don't board intoxicated passengers or passenger that tell flight crew 'I hope your plane crashes.' As a side note; I noticed in the passenger PNR that she is claiming discrimination. That couldn't be further from the truth. She was removed solely because she was intoxicated.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.