An American Airlines passenger forced flight 198 from New York JFK to Milan to divert back to its origin four hours into the trip on Monday night – after he became irate and charged the cockpit because he was refused an exit row seat while traveling with a lap infant and did not receive his first choice of meal.
Other customers say Witnesses on the flight described how he demanded to sit in an exit row, despite regulations prohibiting him from doing so, and then becoming upset but his meal choice wasn’t available. This triggered him – and he tried to assault flight attendants and ultimately rushed toward the cockpit, attempting to force himself in.
Initially, the pilot informed passengers the aircraft was turning around due to technical issues, in order to maintain calm onboard. However, telling people there’s something wrong with the plane can increase nerves! Here, though, they saw the altercation unfolded in the cabin, so everyone knew it was a lie.
Upon landing back at JFK around 3 a.m., customers found that they were required to remain onboard until authorities removed the disruptive passenger – and after eight hours of going nowhere patience had worn thin. Doubly so, because the man was ultimately released without charges.
after the incident, according to CBS sources. And the airline didn’t provide extra comfort accommodations for customers. One for instance, complains they asked to use the JFK Admirals Club to change her baby and was offered a paid day pass for $79.
The flight took off again around 8 hours later, sixteen hours after original departure time, at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday.
What disturbed me about this is:
“the man was ultimately released without charges.”
Really?!
No charges??? Who pays for the extra fuel it took?? Why were the passengers not compensated?? Pretty awful service. Who made those decisions??
I’m with @RunningJock. I’d be pissed off if the guy delta me overnight and nothing happens to him. Passengers should publicly complain on social media to the airline. It’s an insult to your many inconvenienced passengers to just then let it slide.
Would there be a way for the inconvenienced passengers and the airline to sue the disruptive individual for their delay and inconvenience — preferably with a punitive damages component? These incidents are relatively rare, but there needs to be a better punishment mechanism for this type of behavior.
It’s a long standing policy at AAL, the airline will.not press charges on a passenger. Individual crew members are allowed, and the company will facilitate ( give the crew member the needed time off) the crew.
They don’t want to lose a paying customer. There has only been one exception I am aware of… A Platinum member somehow got hold of the CEO’s phone number and repeatedly called him about some issue. The CEO pressed harassment charges in the company’s name.
Released without charges that forced hours of delays? SMH.
Although the no compensation doesn’t surprise me. This is AA after all. Plus it wasn’t under their control, probably the excuse they’d make.
He might have been “released without charges” but if the story is accurate this is a Federal crime and the complaint will be referred to the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn and a Federal Indictment or Information will follow . . . and then this guy’s fun will start.
Wtf.
Why do they not just continue to milan ? Im positive a coule strong guys can take the guy down and wrap him in duct tape to something. Id volunteer.
And then no charges ????? Are you kidding me ?aal is working hard to stay the shittiest airline out there. So many bad experiences. Nothing isn’t right e them. Their website sucks, booking sucks, plane sucks, food sucks… Now this.
The financials of this are what interest me most. The airline and other passengers lose tens of thousands of dollars of time and money over this one guy. Not good. Not right.
These type of incidents will continue until jail times are given. Maybe spending six months in the clink might stop the next idiot to act like a toddler because he didn’t get his airline meal of choice. Anyone that becomes this irrational and mentally unbalanced is a threat to the safety of that flight. Options are limited when someone goes nuts. Maybe there’s law enforcement onboard that are trained in dealing with out of control human beings but maybe not.
Youtube is full of passengers goes crazy at the airport or inflight and has to be dragged off the plane videos. The real danger to air travel are the growing number of mentally unstable, drunk/drugged out, toddler like adults.
I wonder if the passenger could join together and sue the airline. The person should have been tied to a seat and the journey should have continued. It was not a medical emergency and the physical threat could have been mitigated. Until the airline has to pay again, they will continue to screw their passengers. I hope a lot of complaints go into the FAA and DOT.
Refusing to press charges only encourages these events. If there are no consequences, why worry about one’s behavior?
“…the man was ultimately released without charges.”
What? How is attempting to break into the cockpit not enough to get a criminal indictment? It triggered a turn-around!
Public caning needs to be a thing.
@Denver Refugee. Another reason to fly Singapore Airlines.
Upon landing back at JFK around 3 a.m., customers found that they were required to remain onboard until authorities removed the disruptive passenger – and after eight hours of going nowhere patience had worn thin.”
Gary, the blame for this part, I think, in part lies with your fellow content creators, and those in the mainstream media. The incident with Dr. Dao was for sure regrettable and wrong, particularly on the part of the law enforcement officers there who screwed up. But you guys still blew it way out of proportion, to the point that now, law enforcement have to be extra super careful when they want to remove uncooperative passengers from planes rather than just focusing on doing their jobs. All for a few extra eyeballs and ratings for your Web sites and social media feeds and news shows
I agree there should be some consequences for the disruptive passenger for endangering the crew by charging the flight deck, causing major inconvenience for all the remaining passengers, and incurring costs to the airline for fuel and disruption to service. American Airlines can choose not to press charges, but banning this passenger from AA in the future seems reasonable and well within the airline’s control. It’s beyond belief that the airline took no action.
He will be prosecuted, it’s done by the appropriate authorities, they turned back to the states because there is a better chance of him getting prosecuted being AA Is headquartered in the US,as far as AA not helping the pax in anyway,other then flying them out later that day,that’s not like AA,I believe someone made the wrong decision there
Doug: I don’t agree with your “They don’t want to lose a paying customer” statement. The customer is not always right, and some customers are definitely not worth it. I’m confident AA never wants to see this guy’s face on one of their planes again.
Really???? No charges?? What a damn joke. I am hoping AA goes after him and make him pay for every single cent and to my colleagues of my beloved Airline next time stop saying you have a technical problem be straight up as you all no we have a disruptive Ahole on board and we are turning back period.
So some woman wanted to use the Admiral Club to change or feed her baby and was mad she couldn’t get in for free? $79 is a day pass. The lounge is NOT for service recovery. If it were the entire plane would be admitted, all 300 passengers. Right, not happening.. The entitlement of some passengers is as ridiculous as the man who charged the flight deck cause of his meal.
This was not a situation caused by airline so the rules of FAA / DOT Are clear. Unruly passenger is not on the airlines and no compensation is required. That’s for trip insurance and if you don’t buy it then you pay your own way.
Released with no charges. Does AA take responsibility for their failure to control the cabin, to tell the truth to their paying customer and to sue the bejesus out of this moron to ensure that he is bankrupted and is not allowed to fly on any airline ever again. Oh, and ask Amtrak and Greyhound to ban him also.
Has AA not got the guts to handle this? It is pathetic!
Big mistake not charging unruly pax with an offence. Under no circumstances are children allowed in an exit row (for obvious reasons).
A mistake FD crew not telling the passengers the truth (they can see it)
Huge mistake not allowing inconvenienced passengers into the lounge to freshen up/change etc,.
Although the altercation was not AA’s fault, everything after that the airline compounded the situation with all the other passengers by providing poor customer service.
The video said the man was arrested and would be in court later that day. Where did you come up with no charges?
It’s better to use European, middle eastern, or any Asian airlines to fly out of the US, as customer service on American carriers is very little or doesn’t exist at all.
Released without charges? So we’re trying to encourage this type of behavior, right?
This guy is a walking, talking prime example of why we need to have a shared no-fly list between airlines for any flight departing the USA. A decade or two on that list might discourage other idiaots as well as teach him a lesson. That’s after he got done serving a year in jail and paying off the damages he caused.
There’s a reason people don’t do this in Peru or Singapore or Germany: repercussions.
@Mark — Speak for yourself. Dr. Dao is a hero. And I hope he’s enjoying his retirement with all those undisclosed settlement funds. Violence isn’t the answer. Probably should have pressed charges against this guy (in the story), and sought fines, etc., if appropriate, which based on the loss of value, seems so. Again, time is money!
Having had to make a couple inflight diversions, return to the airport of departure, and/or return to the gate after pushback, it’s NEVER a good idea to lie to the passengers. The Captain can give a general announcement without giving all the details of the event as it unfolds. This was not a technical issue and everyone on board is not as stupid and unaaware as the offending passenger.
As far as the passenger causing the flight interruption, show me the money. The aairline and the passengers should not be the ones suffering the consequences of this knuckleheads’ actions.