US-Bound UA Flight Diverted After Passenger’s Mid-Air Tantrum
Jeff Edwards January 04, 2017
A US citizen was removed from a United flight by police in New Zealand after he directed a nasty and profane rant at a flight attendant.
An unidentified passenger on a United Airlines flight from Sydney Airport (SYD) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) might now be regretting the challenge he issued to crew members. A fellow passenger managed to capture video of the irate flyer throwing down the gauntlet and asking a female flight attendant, “Do you know how cool it would be to have the airplane turned around because of me? You are going to do that?”
Bigotry and threats on an airline get you arrested and reroutes a plane. Kudos to the professional crew on @united UA870. #UnitedAirlines pic.twitter.com/lb5BJjcuPp
— Neil Kay (@neilmmmkay) January 1, 2017
The disruptive passenger got his wish and the captain soon landed the plane at Auckland Airport (AKL) where the rude and defiant traveler was removed from the flight by police. According to ABC News, the US citizen was denied entry into the country by authorities in New Zealand and was detained until transportation back to the US could be arranged.
Witnesses on the flight were nearly universal in their praise for the cabin crew’s handling of the sticky situation. Fellow travelers, who bonded over a New Year’s champagne toast during the unscheduled stopover at AKL, told reporters that the disruptive passenger managed a perfect trifecta of hate speech during his inflight meltdown. Two male flight attendants who initially tried to defuse the situation were reportedly met with vulgar homophobic slurs. The troublemaking passenger is said to have become agitated in the first place because he was seated between two passengers of Middle Eastern descent.
In the video, which catches the closing moments of the insulting tirade, the inconsolable passenger can clearly be heard challenging the female to report him to the captain. “You do that!” he demanded. “I’m being so impolite aren’t I? Fat ass.”
The tantrum soon moved from condescending to misogynistic to outright intimidating. “If you guys treat people right on these things, you see two last names the same, don’t put someone else in the middle of them,” the aggrieved passenger explained from his soapbox in one video of the incident, before then shouting at the flight attendant, “I’m not yelling. You want to hear me f***ing yell?”
I agree that this guy was way, way over the top. But I also agree that cases of air rage, without sexism and racist overtones, are likely to go up, not down. In Y, 787s are configured as can of sardines. And don't get me started on 10-across on a 777.
I haven't read up and don't know the full story. But if any passengers are disrupted on the plane and cause it to go back, the airline should have the right to ban the person from flying with that airline again.
The the crew timed out in AKL and the flight was canceled. Did the pilot decide to divert so that the company would have to buy his next trip. I agree that the pax was overboard but there are more sides to this with the United pilots on delays, diversions and cancellation.
What a moron. In addition to removing an idiot like this from the flight, I hope he is put on a No-Fly list. Seems like a just reward for such disruptive and frankly, costly behavior, if you calculate the fuel for a second takeoff and the collective time wasted by all involved.
Toss his ass out the door whilst in flight. That will teach him.