On Monday, April 27 a passenger on Delta Air Lines flight 2879 from Atlanta to Chicago O’Hare did his best Howard Beale impression. Stuck on board the Boeing 737-900 due to thunderstorms and air traffic control congestion, the man was mad as hell and he wasn’t going to take it anymore.
- The plane was scheduled to depart Atlanta at 5:24 p.m. and arrive at 6:35 p.m.
- The FAA had issued a ground stop for flights headed to O’Hare due to storms. That lasted until around 7:15 p.m.
- The aircraft didn’t leave the gate until 7:38 p.m.
- A ground delay program continued through 3:00 a.m. due to air traffic congestion that backed up because of the ground stop. So passengers sat on the aircraft.
One man got aggressive. He demanded to be taken back to the gate. He threatened that if they didn’t let him off, he’d take matters into his own hands. He yelled, threatened to open the aircraft door, threw bags – and eventually did manage to turn the handle but not enough for the emergency slide to deploy.
How long has it been delayed already? Three, four hours, and now you’re talking another… Get me to the gate. I want off. Or I’ll take myself off. Okay? Here you go.
He declares, “You know who matters? Me!”
Watch this guy open the airplane door on the tarmac after a 3-to-4-hour delay because he wanted to go back to the gate.
I’ve been stuck in those long delays too and it’s frustrating as hell, but this just makes the plane even later for everyone else. Hope it was worth getting… pic.twitter.com/F2b120LCcb
— Kim "Katie" USA (@KimKatieUSA) April 29, 2026
The pilot returned to the gate, where police took the man into custody. The flight eventually did make it to Chicago – without him. Their gate departure happened at 12:27 a.m. on Tuesday, arriving at their gate at 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday. The flight was delayed a total of 8 hours 25 minutes… much longer than it would have been because of this man’s antics.
If the slide had been deployed, the cost and disruption would have been much worse. The slide inspection and repacking alone can run in the five figures. It takes the aircraft out of service.
It doesn’t appear that the actual tarmac delay exceeded the regulatory maximum three hours without passengers having an opportunity to deplane. (Food and water are required no later than two hours after the start of a tarmac delay, unless unsafe to offer it.)
Once a passenger starts threatening in this manner or creating a major distraction, the cockpit remains closed. The event could be a lone tantrum, but crews are trained to think of it as a possible distraction, coordinated interference, and a cockpit breach attempt. The captain’s PA response “we are going to go back to the gate” – and addressing the passenger via an announcement and not to coming into the cabin – was the correct one.
In response to the captain returning to the gate, the passenger shouts “good idea!” I bet he changed his opinion once they got there.
Guy is an idiot. Hope he does get charged & fined. Hopefully Delta pursues this matter and at very least, bans him.
“not enough for the emergency slide to deploy” …umm, so either he didn’t actually open it at all, or it wasn’t ‘armed’?
There need to be legal or regulatory limits requiring a return to gate/deplaning after several hours sitting on the tarmac or just locked on the plane at the gate.
@Thing 1 — Umm… DOT already as ‘Tarmac Delay Rules’ in the US, including ‘return to the gate’ for Domestic (3 hours), International (4 hours). After 2 hours, airlines are supposed to provide food, water, restrooms, and medical, if needed. All unless valid safety, security, ATC allows them to exceed. Airlines that violate can be fined tens of tens of thousands of dollars per passenger.
Now, I wish we’d expand upon these baseline rules to include compensation to passengers for excessive delays under the airlines control, like they already do in EU/UK/Canada. Delayed 3-4 hours because of a maintenance or staffing issue? Yeah, that’ll be $250-700, please.
@Thing 1: Totally agree.
737-9, so they likely boarded 45-50 minutes before the original 5:24 departure (so roughly 4:35 pm), sat at the gate until 7:38, when they pushed back (a hair over 3 hours), then this all happened at 7:54 pm (per the video). Gotta wonder what happened in those extra 15 minutes? Did the pilot say “yeah, we pushed but now there’s going to be another 3 hour delay while we wait our turn?” That recently happened to me coming out of ORD, and they would even let anyone go to the bathroom because they were taxiing. No food or water for over three hours.
So does the 3 hour rule start ticking from when they boarded (it should IMHO) or when the plane pushes back, or from the original time of departure?
In this case, even after this delay, they pushed back at 12:27 am (EST) and didn’t land in ORD until 3 am (CST)(which is 4 am EST), and therefore took 3.5 hrs. Since the actual in air time is 1.5 hrs-ish, they must have pushed back and then sat on the tarmac for another two hours.
Again people have no critical thinking skills. Number one there has to be an open gate. Often during weather there is not. Second, with thunderstorms things can change rapidly. So instead of being out near the runway and ready to go, if the plane is back at the gate it increases the chances that the plane won’t make it out if thunderstorms roll back in. The crew should be doing a water service.
Now this idiot has a federal charge against him. Should be permanent No Fly List and a few months in jail. The next moron might think differently.
@George Romey — Calling others dumb is a tired, old trope, BUT… in this case, you’re right. Bah!
@Thing 1–There are regulatory limits during lengthy tarmac delays. More info:
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-II/subchapter-A/part-259
I mean, I don’t condone what this guy did, but those of us who have spent enough time on commercial aircraft all been in his shoes at one point or another. There’s a certain point during a multi-hour delay at which blowing the door almost seems rational.
@Mike Hunt — You’re fairly measured, so I’m not upset with good ole Mike Hunt on here… but, if it were a different gender, race, ethnicity, etc., who acted this way, would you still be showing that same level of empathy as you are right now? Maybe. But not everyone. Not always. Not here. Hmm.
get a jury trial, mate.
When it comes to these obnoxiously long weather related delays, particularly thunderstorms, is it truly necessary to stay locked in a metal tube for 3 or 4 or 5+ hours? Isn’t weather monitoring equipment advanced enough to know when it would be safe to take off? The jerk referenced in this story was definitely in the wrong however what truly is the point of just sitting on a runway for so long? Said another way, when have thunderstorms caused delays that don’t last upwards of 3 or more hours? I’ll wait
Not defending the airlines, but…
“Ya know who’s being arrested? You!”
Why do I feel like I watched this last month on Hulu?
Oh yes! This happened in season 3 episode 10 of LA Law.
* Douglas Brackman is flying to Chicago.
* He is stuck in Seat 3A for 4.5 hours. At one point he tried to leave the plane. Pilot explained once the aircraft pulled from gate, captain was in charge and every passenger was required to listen to his orders (as conveyed via the FAs).
* He called his law office and got his law partner to petition judge to issue court order ordering the pilot to deplane all passengers.
* Pilot announced “passenger in 3A got the court to order me to deplane all of you”
* As he was on jetbridge, other passengers pat him on back.
* the moment he got off the jetbridge, police arrested him for using a mobile phone AND interferring with flight crew.
* Back in the office, the head law partner scolded Brackman and said “you better fly to Chicago and make sure that client you were meeting with doesn’t drop us. And, if I were you, I would book my reservation under an alias.”
* He managed to get the criminal charges tossed by arguing he was using common sense.
Don’t arm the doors or leave the gate until the flight has been cleared to takeoff at the airport and cleared to land at the destination. Problem solved.
The passenger was in the right here and it’s a shame he had to resort to getting angry for what should be common sense. The airlines should not be able to hold people in the plane for over an hour under any circumstances. The issue is the airlines and lax regulations on the matter, not this passenger.
It’s idiots like that guy who cause even more delays! I hope he gets banned from flying in ANY airline PERIOD.
I mean, how long is too long to be held hostage on a plane?
“This guy is a jerk.”
OK – what’s the limit, then – 12 hours? 24 hours? 48 hours?
I don’t think the guy should be charged with anything. At that point, he was being held against his will for an unreasonably long period of time, many hours beyond the agreed upon transit time.
The fact that this guy did what he did doesn’t make him a jerk; he was just the first one to stand up and get things done. I guarantee that at that point about half the plane was ready to get out. This guy just took the L for the team.
Classic from that group of people. Make everyone’s life miserable because they’re entitled and miserable, from being entitled.
when facing an irrational passenger , the cabin crew should not have let him anywhere near a door. he needs some time behind a bars to learn a lesson. and hefty fines and fees for the slide, even not deployed.