As pandemic restrictions have been lifted and humans have been venturing back out into the usual patterns of everyday life, it seems that some people have forgotten how to be well-behaved members of civil society. This seems to be the case on a recent flight where a passenger threw a temper tantrum of such epic proportions that the crew had to take desperate measures to ensure the safety of the rest of the flight’s passengers. On American Airlines flight number 1774 one woman lost her mind, her dignity, and her privilege of not being duct-taped to a seat. The woman freaked out and started attacking the flight crew. She then attempted to open the plane’s side door mid-flight. In a video that went viral all over the internet, the woman, a silver-headed woman evidently of middle age, can be seen duct-taped to a seat with a strand of duct tape over her mouth. The video was taken as the rest of the passengers were exiting the plane after the flight. The woman can be heard screaming something like “YOU!” at the passengers filing by. The flight crew simply nods at those passing by.
The flight was from Dallas-Fort Worth to Charlotte. It had departed at 12 in the morning after a 3-hour delay. It seems that the chaos broke out about 1 hour into the flight. The Twitter user that posted the viral video explained the bizarre scene in subsequent posts. She said that the craziness started around 1:30 with the flight attendants and other crew running up and down the aisle and turning on lights. She says that the flight crew then started to take bags out of overhead bins and locking the bathrooms. At this point, the rest of the passengers were very confused about what was going on. Eventually, the captain came on the intercom and made an announcement that there was “something bad” going on on the plane and that it was being dealt with. At this point, the passengers were starting to get worried. The rest of the passengers could hear screaming coming from the front of the plane. The nearest flight attendant to her explained what was going on. As it turned out, there was a woman who had had an outburst and started violently trying to get off the plane. “I need to get off this plane!” she kept screaming.
It took five flight attendants to subdue the woman. They ended up having to physically restrain her, duct-taping her to a chair. It was later revealed that the woman had bitten a flight attendant and assaulted her. The woman had been attempting to open the plane’s door, a less than wise thing to attempt to do at 30,000 feet. After landing, the flight was met by medical personnel. The woman who lost her mind was later taken to a hospital. She has been put on American Airlines’ internal “no-fly” list, awaiting the results of the investigation into the matter.
