sailflyer

Yesterday we were flying into Honolulu from Vegas when something weird happened. We had almost arrived, and there was a guy near us who had announced to the First Class cabin early on, "I've never been on such a big plane before." He seemed to be either a little drunk or otherwise mentally impaired. Not a lot, just enough to remind me of Forrest Gump. He had graying longish hair and a striped shirt, broad in the shoulder but a basically skinny build; he got out his cell phone at one point (to turn it off?) and it had a background picture of a kitten on it -- you know, a harmless, slightly impaired guy. He was seated beside a guy in a Hawaiian shirt who looked pretty beefy and tough. I figured he was a gambler of some kind, because of the First Class seating, Vegas departure, and the general air of badassity. So Gump and Hawaiian Shirt Guy ignore each other for most of the flight, but toward the end, Gump reaches down to do something with his carryon under the seat, apparently, and Hawaiian Shirt Guy yells, "What are you doing with my bag? You don't touch my bag!!!" Like, really yells, and then he lunges across the armrests and starts hitting the gray-haired Gumpy guy -- literally punching him and still yelling about his bag. The attendants come hurrying discreetly, but hang back rather than stop the beefy guy from pounding on Gump. Eventually, he stops, and Gump idiotically tries to make joking remarks to the Hawaiian Shirt Guy to smooth it over, leaning tipsily toward him once every 30 seconds or so to add to his previous attempt. Well, no dice; in fact, the goofy remarks are making Hawaiian Shirt Guy even more ticked. At this point, he reveals to the crew that he is an air marshal, and that by touching his bag, Gump was making a terroristic threat, or something -- anyway, when we landed we had to stay in our seats and two officers came aboard and escorted Gump off the plane, followed by Agent Danger with his badge showing. Now, if they had just looked at Gump they would have been able to tell that 1) he'd never been on such a big plane before and 2) the biggest threat he posed is that he might fall on somebody, but as the rest of us exited, Agent Danger was giving his statement about how the joking remarks the guy made afterward trying to smooth things over constituted terroristic threats, too. Admittedly, it could have been a clever ruse. A blood alcohol or mental capacity test would probably resolve the question. What the passengers saw was a very violent reaction to an annoying but harmless goof by someone who was not, for whatever reason, in full control of his faculties. Welcome to Honolulu; you're under arrest. I'm just wondering: if they put Gump on the no-fly list, how is he supposed to get home from here? Does he still get the expensive vacation he payed for, or will they clap him in irons and freight him home on a prison ship...???

FYI, the agent who shot the running bipolar guy in Miami in 2005 was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, so this is not blowing anyone's operational security. Hawaiian shirts good. Pounding on harmless drunks, not so good.

mpattdu

What a crazy story. Too bad no one thought to give the police an accurate account of what actually happened.

TheGolfWidow

WHAT? I've seen plenty of Drunks On A Plane, but this sounds more like a mild intellectual disability or normal pressure hydrocephalus or dementia or....something neurological. You were there, though, so you're probably the better judge. In any case....WHAT?

I'm surprised the FA's didn't at least try to issue a verbal cease-and-desist order. But I'm more surprised that no one saw the one-sided beating and decided it was their job to take down the air marshal.

Bizarre story.

RVP

And really sad.

TXagogo

I would have been the first person in line to make a statement describing exactly what happened and I would have corraled as many other pax as I could to do this same. I very likely would have gone to the media as well.

This is absolutely unacceptable and there should be a full and unbiased investigation by an objective panel.

fishferbrains

After chatting with more than a few FAMs in the last few weeks (most of them will talk to you near the end of the flight if you're polite and discreet) it's clear that the job is mind-numbingly boring 5 days a week waiting for something to happen.

My last FAM chat was with an ex-border patrol guy who signed up to be a FAM after 9-11. He lamented the fact that it's so boring and he missed the "day-in day-out chases". It's clear that the stress can have some FAMs itching for a confrontation.

I respect how difficult the job can be; but I fear some day someone going postal - and it could be a FAM.

This FAM at least needs some counselling.

JumboD

Because chances are they knew he was an air marshal and that trying to intervene could be construed as an obstruction of his official duties.

Ari

Did you hear the content of the remarks?

Good Guy

I'm thinking quite a bit is missing from this story.

Loren Pechtel

Agreed. I'm thinking the impaired guy might have gone to the wrong bag by mistake and the FAM way over-reacted. Or perhaps there's restricted stuff in his bag.

bdschobel

You would have been racing with me to be first. This is outrageous.

Bruce

Michael El

I find it odd that there is no media coverage of this incident.

bdschobel

If the guy (Gump) wasn't arrested, which seems likely to me, then there would be literally nothing to report. I suspect that the police on the scene spoke with him for a few minutes and let him go. That would be the reasonable response.

Bruce

Bearcat06

Calling BS on the entire story....especially since it came from someone with 3-4 post.....

Give me a break...... Plenty of folks post 1-2 times to start crap but have absoltutely nothing to back it up other than their word.....and nothing from fellow passingers, TSA/FBI/Hawaiian Airlines.....

RichardKenner

I don't understand your point. If the story were true as stated, there would be nothing to back it up. No charges would be filed and the chance that a second FT member were on the flight in a position to see what happened is vanishingly small.