Witnesses have revealed fresh details about what triggered a passenger’s wild rampage on a Qantas flight that caused it to divert to a Pacific island to ditch him.

The New Zealander was on the 18-hour flight from Melbourne to Dallas when his unruly behaviour sparked the confrontation with air crew and other passengers.

The situation escalated to the point where the QF21 flight was forced to change route and land in Tahiti to allow local police on board to arrest and jail him.

The passenger has since been banned from flying on all Qantas group aircraft, including Jetstar flights. 

American comedian Mike Goldstein captured the tense moment when the slurring passenger was confronted by air crew in footage which has since gone viral.

Goldstein, co-star of The Hundred With Andy Lee, was en route to New York but missed two connecting flights because of the diversion to Tahiti’s capital, Papeete.

He revealed the ‘brutal’ scene was sparked when a passenger sitting in front of the man lowered their seatback about four hours into the flight.

‘It woke him up, and he wasn’t happy about it – that’s what started the confrontation,’ Goldstein told the Daily Mail. 

The man was warned to stop swearing because there were young children in the area

The exasperated flight attended said he was behaving like ‘a two-bob watch’

‘I didn’t see that part, it was in another part of the cabin, but they moved him to a seat behind me.’ 

The flight attendant warned the man to, ‘Behave yourself, there are kids everywhere’, before the agitated passenger then asked if the crew member was ‘smoking weed’.

The passenger could be heard saying ‘f*** off, c***’ as the attendant attempted to escort him back to his seat.

‘Watch your language… You’re carrying on like a bloody two-bob watch,’ the attendant warned.

A second Qantas staffer stepped in to physically restrain him and said he was being taken to sit at the back of the plane.

The passenger responded: ‘I was just taking a p***.’

One member of the air crew was allegedly bitten during the blow-up, before the Kiwi was seen lying facedown at the back of the aircraft after it landed in Tahiti.

The comedian, who splits his time between Australia and the United States, said the passenger was restrained by several men at the back of the aircraft for two hours until the plane diverted to Tahiti, where he was escorted off by local law enforcement.

Passengers were frustrated by a delayed departure and then an unscheduled stopover

American comedian Mike Goldstein’s video taken on board has since gone viral

A close friend of the passenger told the Daily Mail the Kiwi’s behaviour was ‘completely out of character’.

‘This is definitely not his standard behaviour,’ they said.

‘I can only think he took sleeping pills to sleep on the flight. Maybe washed it down with some beers. And got woken up and didn’t know where he was.’

The Daily Mail understands the man is a New Zealander who lives in Australia, and travels frequently to the US to spend time with his American partner.

His friend has not spoken to him since his arrest in Papeete, but said he appeared to be aware of the global attention.

‘He posted (on social media) that he was heading to Dallas, and he’s since deleted it. So he clearly knows what’s happened,’ they said.

‘He’s the type of person who will take responsibility for his actions. And he doesn’t need any more backlash. He’s been through enough.’

The friend said they were shocked by the footage on social media: ‘I’ve never seen him like that. Ever. It was quite alarming when I saw him on the nightly news.’

Qantas was forced to divert their Dallas-bound Dreamliner to Tahiti’s capital

Qantas thanked passengers who helped their air crew during the in-flight drama.

‘The safety of our customers and our crew is our number one priority and we have zero tolerance for disruptive or threatening behaviour on our flights,’ said a spokesman.

‘We’re grateful to our crew and other passengers who assisted during the incident.

‘The aircraft was refuelled and customers continued on their journey to Dallas, arriving Saturday morning.

‘The passenger was issued a no-fly ban on Qantas Group aircraft.’

Goldstein said no one felt unsafe during the flight, but said that the delay caused by the passenger was ‘annoying’.

‘No one was in fear of it. Everyone was sort of united in their [frustration] with the guy,’ he told the Daily Mail on Monday after arriving jet-lagged in New York.

‘The flight was already delayed out of Melbourne, and then we waited in Tahiti on the tarmac because there was a problem with the paperwork. It was brutal.’