Witnesses said Devlin was "making a scene" and being "abusive" toward crew after morning fog had caused disruptions to the flight.
The other passengers on the flight were let back on the plane this afternoon, but Devlin did not return, The New Zealand Herald reports witnesses as saying.
The flight, which had been due to arrive in Auckland at 9.25am before delays, circled for about an hour before returning to Wellington, a Jetstar spokeswoman said.
"We were expecting the fog to clear but unfortunately that didn't happen so we had to go back to Wellington," she said.
"We did arrange for police to meet the aircraft back to Wellington for that particular passenger, but it's been a challenging morning."
It was "standard procedure" and there were no injuries on the flight, she said.
