United Airlines flight UA 2731 from Newark to Denver was delayed 4 hours and 43 minutes on Friday – slightly longer than the actual travel time of the flight.
All passengers on the Airbus A321neo nearly had to be removed from the aircraft when a “clearly..intoxicated” man refused to leave. All the airline wanted was assurance that he would “behave and not cause any issues on the flight” but he was unable to offer that assurance. That’s when another passenger stepped in.
On the plane – clearly slurring words & intoxicated when talking to the supervisor – who told him “his behavior was rude and unacceptable”. Supervisor was EXTREMELY kind and patient asking him if he would behave and not cause any issues on the flight, and he refused.
Supervisor left, came back for one more chance, he still would not say yes. After announcing we all would have to deplane, people got quite upset, and eventually through some kind coersion from one passenger he left on his own (in the video).
UA 2731 Newark > Denver passenger kicked off for unruly behavior
byu/alphaskins inunitedairlines
This reminds me of when I was 18 and drinking with friends one night in Tijuana. I was an undergrad at UCLA at the time, and we’d head south because we weren’t yet legal drinking age in the States. You’d park on the U.S. side of the border and walk over, and only needed your drivers license as ID back then. One night I had too much to drink. The U.S. official on the way back simply asked “are you a citizen?” but I could not answer. A friend told me, “Gary just say yes” and I could only say “she said say yes.” Eventually they let me back in. So I did better than this passenger.
Inflight incidents reached all-time highs during the pandemic, when passengers were required to wear masks and mask-wearing became political. There were fewer people traveling then, but more flashpoints of confrontation than ever before.
United Airlines handled these incidents better than most. This was probably the legacy of 2017’s David Dao passenger-dragging incident, after which the airline’s crew received de-escalation training. United flight attendants would write up non-compliant passengers, and the airline would deal with the issue after the flight (for instance, putting people on their banned passenger list). American Airlines, in contrast, would divert flights more often.
However passenger incidents remain elevated compared to before the pandemic. I believe some of this is the smaller percentage of business travelers onboard compared to the Before Times. But I also think some of it is reduced staffing at the gate to save money. Gate agents don’t spend as much time as they used to, paying attention to customers, which means fewer problematic passengers get identified prior to boarding.
While passenger incidents are almost always the fault of the badly behaving passenger, “what’s different” from a causality standpoint is likely on the airlines.
Unless there was an issue with crew that had to be replaced why would this take this long. 1. Tell the passenger they need to come off and if they refuse 2. Call the airport cops 3. Have the airport cops tell them to come off and if not 4. Deplane everyone, drag passenger off (and put in cuffs and take to jail) then 5. Reboard. Shouldn’t be more than a one hour situation.
The drunk needed some friendly passenger persuasion in the form of a bear hug and some dance moves down the aisle
Pro Tip: Passengers avoid hangovers by staying and flying drunk. Always drink responsibly.
In coach, in a middle seat?! I guess his private jet was confiscated under Russia-Ukraine sanctions. Being a Russian oligarch isn’t as much fun as it looks anymore!
First a few clarifications……It is an FAA regulation that you cannot BOARD anyone who even appears to be intoxicated. So the agents have some “splainin” to do. Secondly No crew cabin or cockpit will let a passenger remain on board even if he promises to behave…….that’s when they start opening doors, rushing the cockpit, attacking the crew etc. No good captain would allow this pax to remain onboard under any circumstances. Thirdly due to the doctor being dragged off United a few years ago, now the airlines have adopted a policy of deplaning everyone before they use force removing someone in order to prevent it from becoming a media frenzy.
Alcohol is such a blessing in so many lives… NOT!
No amount of alcohol consumption is safe for your health.
What the hell was he doing seated to begin with? He should have been stopped at the gate…or boarding door…or by the FA (who is supposed) to be monitoring mid cabin.
Russians on Planes.
Ninja’d by Mike F…
Good thing he kept his sunglasses on. It’s pretty bright inside an aircraft cabin, especially with a hangover.
I get my kicks above the waistline, Sunshine. — MH
E
LOL…. WTF even asking a drunk if he/she will promise to behave & be a good boy/girl when they’re even incapable of speaking coherently ? Call the cops and, if necessary, drag his non-compliant arse off the plane. And allowing a fellow pax to ‘mediate’ is just as negligent. I’m surprised the whole plane didn’t erupt and take out both the UA sup as well as the inebriate after already being subjected to such a delay. Ridiculous conduct by UA courtesy of that idiotic doctor….FAFO…
Anyway, nice to see those new a321neos sorta in-action…
How come that it took more than 4 hours to remove him from the plane ?
No amount of alcohol could persuade me to sit in that middle seat.
Agreed that the gate agent should have denied boarding. Drunk gets argumentative…get security involved. I don’t get it…why would everyone be deplaned? Cops come in…drag the bastard off. End of story. Yeah, there’s the pictures of the guy many years ago…all bloody and being dragged off but that was a very bad exception. Then put the guy on the no fly list. TA DA!