Passenger escorted off flight at Singapore Changi airport over cardboard box dispute

A woman was escorted off a Batik Air flight at Singapore's Changi Airport after refusing to hand a large cardboard box to cabin crew, delaying departure by about an hour.

The standoff took place on flight OD804 to Kuala Lumpur, which was due to leave Changi's Terminal 4 at 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 30, Singapore's Shin Min Daily News reported, citing a passenger surnamed Ke.

Ke, 42, who works in property management, said the woman appeared to be in her 20s and sat in an aisle seat in the middle of the cabin, holding a box almost as large as a carry-on suitcase.

The box did not fit in the overhead bin, and crew told her she could not keep it on her lap, Ke said.

Flight attendants repeatedly asked her to let them store it, with one promising it would be returned on landing, but she refused, Ke told the newspaper.

A male flight attendant eventually carried the box away, but the woman stayed in her seat.

About five police officers then boarded and tried to persuade her to cooperate before leading her off the plane, about 45 minutes after the crew first approached her, Ke said.

The box bore a red "fragile" label, according to Malaysia's Oriental Daily.

TikTok user minimanimo posted a video of the incident on Sept. 30. According to the post, the woman insisted on keeping the box under the seat in front of her, declined a flight attendant's offer to put it on an empty seat and refused to fasten her seatbelt.

The footage shows a flight attendant carrying the box toward the front of the plane, then uniformed officers standing in the aisle around a seat before a woman follows them out.

Flight leaves an hour late

The Boeing 737-800 took off at 1:29 p.m., 59 minutes behind schedule, and landed in Kuala Lumpur at 2:15 p.m., according to Flightradar24 data.

Passengers were given two bottles of mineral water as compensation, Ke said.

Kuala Lumpur-Singapore was the world's third-busiest international air route in 2025 with 5.6 million scheduled seats, according to aviation data firm OAG.