Disruptive passenger incident on AA 1561 ORD to SFO May 8 2011
May 9, 2011, 2:09 am
#16
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 3
Chicago SFO Incident
I was on this flight also. I had never even heard of this forum but have been searching for news items on this incident and came across your site.
The depiction is correct. It seemed like this was a guy who had some sort of panic attack and happened to be a religious fanatic. I was sitting in the exit row and I heard yelling from behind. I just thought the guy was rushing to the front to get help because someone was having a health issue.
After the guy was subdued, the flight attendants kept yelling for everyone to sit down. Some people took pictures with their phones and a flight attendant said, "If you want to get arrested when we land, you will keep on taking pictures."
Anyway, it was pretty clear that this was not an organized, thought out action.
The flight attendant on the PA right before landing promised us an especially smooth landing (on behalf of the pilot). On exiting I heard the pilot telling the police that the incident took place at 26000 feet altitude (if I heard right). I know that it was just after they announced that the flight had 30 minutes remaining that the guy rushed to the front.
The depiction is correct. It seemed like this was a guy who had some sort of panic attack and happened to be a religious fanatic. I was sitting in the exit row and I heard yelling from behind. I just thought the guy was rushing to the front to get help because someone was having a health issue.
After the guy was subdued, the flight attendants kept yelling for everyone to sit down. Some people took pictures with their phones and a flight attendant said, "If you want to get arrested when we land, you will keep on taking pictures."
Anyway, it was pretty clear that this was not an organized, thought out action.
The flight attendant on the PA right before landing promised us an especially smooth landing (on behalf of the pilot). On exiting I heard the pilot telling the police that the incident took place at 26000 feet altitude (if I heard right). I know that it was just after they announced that the flight had 30 minutes remaining that the guy rushed to the front.
May 9, 2011, 2:21 am
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: ORD
Programs: Hilton Diamond, AA Executive Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 16
He was definitely unstable. Not sure if you hung around at all and witnessed him yelling by the gate still. Yeah not sure what his motives were but definitely a freaky situation. Yeah the female FA was very stern in her warnings! The crew did a marvelous job and so did the passengers who assisted. Was actually a pretty good landing considering how windy it was! Safe travels all!
May 9, 2011, 2:41 am
#19
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 3
Not sure why people on here would think hinsdale123 and me were BSing about something like this, but oh well, this is the internet so.....no hard feelings. A few drinks in SF calmed me down.
Someone asked why I was in FC after I changed flights. I am not super well versed on AA rules, but fwiw, I am platinum and was flying full fare so maybe that is why i managed to get in FC before hinsdale123.
In any case, I am not sure why people would think we were making .... up. I found this website after I did a search for aa 1561 and posted what I saw.
Looks like CNN has picked up on this as well ; http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/05/09...enger.subdued/
Someone asked why I was in FC after I changed flights. I am not super well versed on AA rules, but fwiw, I am platinum and was flying full fare so maybe that is why i managed to get in FC before hinsdale123.
In any case, I am not sure why people would think we were making .... up. I found this website after I did a search for aa 1561 and posted what I saw.
Looks like CNN has picked up on this as well ; http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/05/09...enger.subdued/
May 9, 2011, 3:05 am
#20
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 3
Do you have a link to the news story? That was the first thing I looked for and not being able to find any on either SF or Chicago news made me quite suspicious. I'll be the first to concede we jumped to conclusions, but only after I see an official story on this.
And as to the gurney, perhaps they expected him to be sedated by the crew or were preparing for him to have been injured in the course of being taken down?
And as to the gurney, perhaps they expected him to be sedated by the crew or were preparing for him to have been injured in the course of being taken down?
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/05/09...enger.subdued/
Also, Hinsdale's does a much better job detailing this than I did.
May 9, 2011, 5:39 am
#21
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: STL
Programs: MR LT Titanium, UA 1K, DL Gold, AA EXP
Posts: 886
My apologies
Very surprised they didn't divert. I'd read about the STL incident earlier today, and was surprised there was no coverage of this AA flight.
Article at CNN:
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/0...enger.subdued/
Article at CNN:
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/0...enger.subdued/
May 9, 2011, 5:48 am
#22
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Fairfield County, CT USA
Programs: AA PLT+2MM / DL DM+1MM / A3 *G / Fairmont LT Plat / Ritz Gold / SPG Gold
Posts: 4,077
Here is the top result from my Google search. Neither the origin or destination city's local press, but cites sf-area law enforcement officials by name.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...+-+Top+Stories)
As to AA personnel sitting in front, there could be a number of reasons for this, even if pax were awaiting upgrades. I've sat next to employees in front a few times on AA, who have offered various reasons for sitting in front:
1) certain mid and executive level management get premium cabin privileges
2) staff involuntarily commuting sometimes are given confirmed premium cabin transit as part of their commute (I flew next to a first officer who said he was moved to a different base involuntarily for a period of time and got j or f confirmed as part of his assignment - though this was 3 years ago)
3) paid ticket at discounted rate (unlikely)
4) gate agent dispensation (more likely than #3)
in any event, glad everyone made it safely.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...+-+Top+Stories)
As to AA personnel sitting in front, there could be a number of reasons for this, even if pax were awaiting upgrades. I've sat next to employees in front a few times on AA, who have offered various reasons for sitting in front:
1) certain mid and executive level management get premium cabin privileges
2) staff involuntarily commuting sometimes are given confirmed premium cabin transit as part of their commute (I flew next to a first officer who said he was moved to a different base involuntarily for a period of time and got j or f confirmed as part of his assignment - though this was 3 years ago)
3) paid ticket at discounted rate (unlikely)
4) gate agent dispensation (more likely than #3)
in any event, glad everyone made it safely.
May 9, 2011, 5:52 am
#24
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Fairfield County, CT USA
Programs: AA PLT+2MM / DL DM+1MM / A3 *G / Fairmont LT Plat / Ritz Gold / SPG Gold
Posts: 4,077
I'm on some bloody awful USAir flight right now and there was so much noise coming from further back in the plane that I turned around to see what the disturbance was (having just read this post)...thankfully (?) it was not pax, but rather it was just three FAs talking very loudly and one banging her hand on the drinks trolley in laughter.
No customers seemed to be partaking in their laughter.
No customers seemed to be partaking in their laughter.
May 9, 2011, 5:54 am
#25
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Fairfield County, CT USA
Programs: AA PLT+2MM / DL DM+1MM / A3 *G / Fairmont LT Plat / Ritz Gold / SPG Gold
Posts: 4,077
May 9, 2011, 6:05 am
#26
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Home Airports: CAE/CLT
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, National Executive
Posts: 5,452
LINK TO STORY
Do you have a link to the news story? That was the first thing I looked for and not being able to find any on either SF or Chicago news made me quite suspicious. I'll be the first to concede we jumped to conclusions, but only after I see an official story on this.
And as to the gurney, perhaps they expected him to be sedated by the crew or were preparing for him to have been injured in the course of being taken down?
And as to the gurney, perhaps they expected him to be sedated by the crew or were preparing for him to have been injured in the course of being taken down?
May 9, 2011, 7:25 am
#27
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
First, marhaban, er, welcome to FlyerTalk, Hinsdale123 and dubspecial. Some of your posts - very early posts with links - were suppressed by the system until a moderator could check out the spam possibilities and subsequently approve the posts. This seems to have resulted in some doubting posts, of which the most egregious have been removed or edited.
/Moderator
And indeed, a man appearing agitated and shouting "Allahu akbar"* (or "Allahu ekber") would get the blood moving and elevate the pressure and respiratory rate. Shokran gazilan for your posts.
*God is the greatest
/Moderator
And indeed, a man appearing agitated and shouting "Allahu akbar"* (or "Allahu ekber") would get the blood moving and elevate the pressure and respiratory rate. Shokran gazilan for your posts.
*God is the greatest
Last edited by JDiver; May 9, 2011 at 8:03 am
May 9, 2011, 7:52 am
#29
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: All over
Programs: AA-LTP, HH-DIA, Marriott-LT+AMB, Hyatt-Globalist, Hertz-PC, UA-GS
Posts: 6,828
Just woke up to this incident on the news. Crazy. Can you really get arrested for sitting in ur chair taking pics of the incident? I thought it would be helpful for authorities??
