Russian actor dragged off flight after calling other passengers ‘plebs’

‘I’m an actress and you are a pleb. Because you probably bought the ticket with miles,’ says Lidiya Velezheva

A Russian actor was dragged off a plane when she called other passengers “plebs”.

Actor Lidiya Velezheva was in business class onboard an Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Tel Aviv.

Just before take-off, she became agitated and flew into a rage, according to multiple reports.

Footage of the incident shows her shouting: “I’m an actress and you are a pleb.

“Because you probably bought the ticket with miles. And I paid 204k roubles [around £2,500].”

Her husband said her outburst was the effect of her taking sleeping pills.

The footage from news site Mash shows two uniformed police officers board the jet and escort Ms Velezheva off the plane while other passengers watch.

She is then seen being taken across the tarmac by officers towards a minibus.

Ms Velezheva, 53, has appeared in films including Idiot and August Eighth.

It’s not the first incident of air rage.

In May, several British tourists were arrested after a Wizz Air plane from Luton was forced to abort its landing at Budapest.

Flight 2208 was on its final approach to Ferihegy airport on the outskirts of the Hungarian capital when an unruly passenger left his seat in the middle of the cabin and went to the back of the aircraft, apparently to use the toilet.

Cabin crew instructed him to return to his seat. When he refused, they told the captain that, as the cabin was not secure, the aircraft could not land.

Last September, a “hyper-aggressive” passenger caused the only Australia-UK flight to turn around and return to Perth, triggering wide-ranging and expensive disruption.

Qantas flight QF9 to Heathrow was almost 1,000 miles into its 9,000-mile journey, with passengers settling down for a very long overnight trip, when a man in the economy cabin, believed to be aged about 30, suddenly stood up and started shouting. One passenger reported he was acting in “an extremely aggressive manner”.