A pilot locked himself in the cockpit in a dispute over unpaid wages. Passengers boarded a Mexico City – Cancún flight got a cockpit standoff, a “possible hijacking” response, and a canceled trip.
On Friday, December 19, 2025, at around 3 p.m. passengers boarded Magnicharters flight 780. Instead of pushing back, the captain refused to operate the flight and froze the operation by barricading himself in the cockpit and everyone was stuck for 60 – 90 minutes.
The pilot’s message to passengers was basically: we’re not going anywhere until the airline pays what it owes me. He claims that’s more than five months of unpaid salary and per diems (viáticos).
A captain from the Mexican airline MagniCharters kept today's flight grounded at the Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez CDMX due to the airline's 5-month debt for per diem allowances.
In the video, the pilot, who had a scheduled flight to Cancún, is seen explaining that the… pic.twitter.com/oPDUHmBtWs
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) December 20, 2025
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) December 20, 2025
He says the company doesn’t provide uniforms and even lacks basics he described as “cartas/carnet de navegación” (reported variously as navigation letters/charts/credentials). He characterized what he was doing as a public denunciation of how the company treats staff, including saying there’s no union protection and describing management as a “mafia.”
There’s some disagreement about what immediately triggered the standoff.
- In one version, he was notified of dismissal shortly before departure so this was his last chance to get what he believes he’s owed.
- In another version he had flagged a possible issue with a door, stepped out to check it, and then returned to be told he was out.
The pilot apologized to passengers while insisting he wouldn’t proceed until the dispute was addressed. This was escalated, though, from “customer service disruption” to security protocol, treating the situation as a hijacking. Mexico’s Navy reportedly were involved in the intervention. And passengers were eventually deplaned, with the pilot taken into custody.
Ultimately, it’s one thing to protest prior to boarding (or to refuse the assignment). Using a cabin full of passengers as leverage isn’t going to end well. In this case he wasn’t going to fly, but you also wouldn’t allow him to either.
Remind me never to fly MagniCharters, which operates 5 Boeing 737-300 aircraft and seasonally operates to the United States (Orlando).
I feel bad for the pilot if the allegations he made are true but he should have never boarded the aircraft.