Alaska Airlines flight 2221 was preparing for takeoff on Saturday morning when a passenger began exhibiting erratic behavior: he was “saying weird stuff” and rocking back and forth in his seat. As his behavior deteriorated, a flight attendant was summoned, and the passenger grabbed the hair of a woman nearby.
That’s when the flight attendant delivered a punch to the man’s throat. The passenger was eventually restrained.
Alaska Airlines Flight 2221 incident Oakland, CA 2/1/2024 ~10:35 am pic.twitter.com/ND7g1YqUVz
— chad_bro_chill_17 (@walterizzle) February 1, 2025
The Embraer E175 (registration N637QX) returned to the gate where police took him into custody. The February 1 flight was cancelled due to lack of crew – the flight attendant didn’t feel capable of making the trip any longer – and passengers were rebooked later in the day.
Here’s a description of the incident from an eyewitness,
We were about to take off from OAK to PDX but this dude started saying weird stuff and rocking back and forth. A flight attendant was called then he grabbed the woman’s hair in front of him and wouldn’t let go so the flight attendant started punching him in the throat. He was restrained for several minutes before being arrested. The flight was cancelled after an attendant refused to fly and could not be replaced. I lady said he said he was an alcoholic on five medications before he started repeating himself and glitching out.
And here’s the female victim,
I am the woman whose hair was grabbed. My hair was not in anyone’s way to provoke anyone to grab it. The man was having a psychotic episode, banged his head multiple times on the back of my seat, shortly lost consciousness, regained consciousness and grabbed my hair close to the scalp. Had I leaned forward with him grabbing my hair, he could have pulled my hair out. I was afraid this man was going to punch me in the head and I am thankful for the FA and other passengers who stepped in to help.
(HT: Matt B)
Gonna need an FA specially trained and big enough to subdue a passenger on every flght. Gives new meaning to being there for your safety.
My thoughts exactly, start hiring bouncer sized doods. Reminds me of the notorious Sydney to LAX Qantas flights during the 90’s where almost every attendant was a 6ft + Aussie male in economy. Glorified bar men would be the best description.
FA is also psychiatrically unstable. Just take some deep breath and get back to work
Good job on the FA. But sadly he will probably be sued by the arrested passenger. :/.
Heading on job posting: “Alaska Hiring Bar Bouncers, Customer Service Skills Not Necessary, But Appreciated”
This is just sad all around. Would not want anyone to be a victim like that–like, please leave her/your fellow passengers alone. As to the perpetrator, there’s clearly more to that story; he definitely needs ‘help’ and should not be a passenger (for a while). Likewise, flight attendants and crews are supposed to be focused on our safety first, then comfort–I really feel for the FA here, he above and beyond, no wonder he didn’t want to fly after this. Of course, for everyone else, it would not be fun to witness or to be delayed by an incident like this. And this has nothing to do with the airline, airport, city, state, backgrounds of the people, etc.–it seems like a mental health crisis, has happened and likely will happen elsewhere, too. We can and should do better as a society, that’s for sure.
Oakland California? Not surprised at all.
Needs help? How about jail? We have these toddler adults now because we seem to think they should be indulged. Kudos to that flight attendant. Start throwing these pieces of trash into prison and the toddler behavior will soon come to an end.
Air travel is just one area you see this behavior. Not to long ago this kind of behavior was rare to never. Now it’s at least a weekly occurrence in air travel. The person gets out on bail, maybe shows up to court, often doesn’t, and is given some kind of bs probation. And even if they’re caught on a warrant for no show, same thing, probation and back into society to re-offend.
Awww California,,, Ain’t it grand???
There should be a health questionnaire asking you simple questions such as if you are feeling well enough to fly at the very least. Or specific emotions such as are you angry, anxious or afraid.
A psycho is more like it. How do they afford a ticket?
Horribly written. Whoever wrote this should go back to Junior High and learn all about commas and how pronouns work. As written it was the flight attendant who pulled the woman’s hair.
Those weren’t throat punches. That was closed fist strikes on the trapezius. Dude watched too many cheezy 80s movies.
If you need to stop someone, you need to make them bleed or experience sharp pain. Strike their eyebrow and rotate your fist when you make contact to split the skin and blood will obscure their vision. Strike the bridge of their nose to cause pain.
Do *NOT* punch someone in the throat. I.e. straight jab to the larynx. That can kill someone and that brings cops, court dates, and other problems.
Don’t think derek knows what the f’ he/it/she – got 2 b careful with pronouns – is talking about.
@Alan @TexasPhil — Come on, this can and does happen in Florida and Texas, too (do we really need to repost all those pandemic-era mask-fighting videos?). But I get it, depending on what channel is on in the background 24/7, you learn to ‘hate’ a particular city/state. *sigh*
@George N Romey — I don’t like this stuff either. Not at all. Though, I think ‘misbehavior’ like this has still been happening for years and years, we just now have smart phones that can film it, and the internet to share it worldwide. Of course, our de-funding mental health treatment programs probably didn’t help. And sadly, our society does seem to irrationally thirst for violence.
@Patrick Jacobs — Every few posts, you, or someone like you, comments that Gary ‘can’t write’. Yup, VFTW is not the Associated Press, and we don’t need AP Style here. Please, say whatever you want, because thankfully Gary has a thick skin and cherishes freedom of expression on here.
@morno — Use whatever pronouns you want. Nobody really cares, and there are no actual, enforceable laws on this. And, if they do care, they will tell you, usually. Then you can choose whether to be respectful to them, or not. You do you. They/them… do…it/it?
Flight attendants should honestly be allowed to use tazers and tranquilizers for situations like this. They are kinda the last line of defense for passenger safety.
The strength of someone suffering a violent mental episode is no joke.
These are always disheartening to read. Air travel should be a source of excitement and a happy sense of adventure. Don’t ruin it for those who feel that way. And for those who don’t like flying, don’t reinforce that for them.
I recall a celebrity who was tweeted something like how come I’m never a witness of a flight disruption. Smh.
L737 — Glad you still have the joy; if you’re doing it right, that never goes away. Be courageous.
A lot of folks do experience a ‘normalcy’ bias, which causes them to minimize threats, until it affects them personally, often far too late. Admittedly, it’s hard to know when we are over-or-under reacting. It’s one thing when the incident is a mild inconvenience, and another when it’s a global catastrophe. It’s not easy to find the balance but it’s worth trying. Be safe out there.
Screw you TexasPhil: dump on California because you are small man in a big impotent state.
I hope Alaska Airlines added the offending passenger to the No Fly List.
Travel is stressful enough.
We don’t need to be flying with people subject to violent psychotic incidents.
No. Fly. List.