Flight Forced Into Emergency Landing By First Class Idiot Punching An Attendant
An American Airlines flight from New York to Orange County landed in Denver after the incident onboard
I've never flown first class, but from all the aspirational posters airlines tout of their top-tier accommodation it looks like quite a nice place to be. It definitely doesn't look like the kind of environment that would make me so angry I punched someone in the face. I wouldn't call that acceptable first class behavior. But on a flight from New York to California, one first class idiot did just that.
According to CBS News, a passenger on an American Airlines flight had to be taped to their seat after assaulting a flight attendant. The attack forced the flight into an emergency landing so the offender could be handed over to the authorities.
Flight 976 departed JFK yesterday (Oct. 27) at 04:29 p.m. EST, bound for John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California. However, it was forced into an emergency landing in Denver, Colorado, at 06:38 p.m. following the incident onboard.
CBS News reported that a passenger assaulted a female attendant on the flight.
Passengers on board the flight reported that a "first or business class" passenger became aggravated during the journey.
ABC News added that the passenger walked to the galley area and punched a flight attendant twice. He was then detained and duct taped to his seat until he could be escorted off the plane by police officers.
The attendant was reportedly taken to a local hospital to assess her injuries.
The airline told CBS that the passenger would "never be allowed to travel with American Airlines in the future."
The company added:
"We will not be satisfied until he has been prosecuted to the full extent of the law. This behavior must stop and aggressive enforcement and prosecution of the law is the best deterrent."
After unloading the unruly passenger in Denver, the flight carried on its journey to California.
Somehow, bad behavior on flights has become increasingly common in the past year. We've covered passengers taped to their seat for groping and fighting before, along with a passenger that choked a flight attendant with a tie and another that was kicked off a flight over a racist rant. It's reached the point where the Federal Aviation Administration had fined unruly passengers upwards of $1 million in 2021 by August of this year.