Drunk Passengers Threaten Flight Attendant, Get Removed From American Airlines Miami Flight

Tuesday night’s American Airlines flight AA322 was delayed 48 minutes after the aircraft returned to the gate to offload “two drunk unruly passengers” who cursed at cabin crew over mask requirements.

One of the men reportedly threatened a flight attendant, “Stop telling me to wear mask or I’ll slap the s[—] out of you!”

Chalk one more incident up for the Miami hub explanation of why American has more unruly passenger incidents than competitors.

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Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. It’s always fascinating to me that they are like children. When removed he gave the classic child response, ‘Who, me?” They are idiotic enough to actually look puzzled at their behavior being somehow innocent.

  2. Must be something in the water in Miami. AA may want to consider outfitting their planes departing MIA like the one in that old movie “Con Air” starring Nicholas Cage.

  3. Typical dirtbag with backpack and carry on taking up the overhead bin space in other rows because he’s too cheap to check a bag. And STILL doesn’t have his mask on correctly. Someone should have slapped the shit out of him instead.

  4. Same old problem. Alcohol. Ban it in Airports and on Planes. Then deal with Sober morons. Easier to handle. Nothing ever changes or gets fixed.

  5. David, use of small electronic devices in airplane mode is expressly permitted. It would seem that in your defense of this uncivil and belligerent individual, you are willing to suppress someone’s use of a device that is expressly permitted. Sounds like you’re the authoritarian fascist.

    Do you believe this uncivil and belligerent individual should not have been removed from the aircraft? What if they let him stay on the flight? What if the next uncivil and belligerent act is heading to the toilet during turbulence and — in his drunken state — loses balance, falls, and catches himself on the cabin’s exterior door handle. Oops.

    Oh, my rights, my rights . . . to be a drunken jerk at the expense of everyone else.

    By the way, David, would you have the same sentiments if the drunken person were black? If I had to guess, you wouldn’t be complaining about the phone being out. If I had to guess, you would be thinking “as expected from a black person.” Therein rests your true shame.

  6. As the saying goes, the one good thing about Miami is that it’s really close to the United States.

  7. Well, if you’ve been living in Florida – land of mask freedom, and now have to endure mask tyranny….

    And anyone who says FAs aren’t on mask power trips hasn’t been paying attention.

  8. If we had a viable U.S. Attorney General with state and district offices not burdeoned with chasing ghosts of parents fighting CRT, we could certainly envision a very active U.S. and State AG department immediately going after these threatening drunks by throwing them overnight in jail without bond; to appear in court the following weekday to pay a $10,000 fine +for any damages to the jet or crew; or airport costs; to look pretty for their photo to be banned for one year from flying.

  9. Gosh those seats are so ugly and cheap looking (and feeling as well). And that separation between “first class” and coach. How terribly cheap and poor that is.

    This seems like a rather calm interaction. The norm is a daily brawl and riot either at the airport or on board. Welcome to today’s flying public.

  10. It’s stressful enough flying without some a—hole slapping a flight attendant or causing such a ruckus to where the plane has to return to the gate. I’m all for a serious beat down on those passengers. I hope that they are banned from flying not just by that airline, but all others as well.

  11. There’s an easy fix: Mandatory jail time and a permanent ban from flying on commercial flights or entering any USA airport. Sadly, the current presidential administration simply hasn’t the political will to do it. So crass, uncouth and violent behavior will continue. Learn to live with it, people.

  12. MES above brings in CRT to this thread…..why do we need to know he is racist when the matter at hand is about stupid belligerent sexist drunks who no doubt voted for Trump

  13. “Racist” is such an overused term it doesn’t mean anything anymore. Apparently there are still those who haven’t gotten the memo. Certainly the shaming factor is now approaching zero and no one cares. Find another debating point on which to base your case, because racism Trump, etc are sooooo yesterday. The hands of the clock are moving. The calendar has turned. The rest of us have moved on.

  14. There is a way to reduce the number of anti-mask incidents. All passengers should be required to provide proof of vaccination or previously approved medical exemption prior to boarding.

    Until we deny these people a venue and audience to perform in front of, we cannot get back to normal.

  15. @Donald Mamula

    Since you’re clueless about the mask policy , Ill explain it to you.
    The FA’s are not on a mask power trip , its that they’re Federally Mandated to.
    So please before you post such nonsense educate yourself !

  16. I am the alleged “drunk and unruly passenger” referred to in this article. First off, to my knowledge not even American Airlines alleged that I was drunk. I was drinking a soda through a straw when I was approached by a flight attendant who aggressively said to me “you have to pull your mask up in between sips and in between bites” I acknowledged him and as he walked away I had a laugh about it with other surrounding passengers. Approximately 10 minutes later, the captain made an announcement that the plane was heading back to the gate due to some passengers “in the back of the plane that were refusing to properly wear a mask”. I was not in the back of the plane. My seat was in the first or second row after first class. Everyone, including the people that I had been traveling with pulled out their phones to video the people that were going to be removed from the plane. As demonstrated by the video, I was completely shocked that I was the one being singled out. I was asked to leave the plane for “just a conversation”. By the time I had gotten off the plane I was furious because I was singled out and removed from the plane for no apparent reason and without any warning. At that time I was surrounded by law enforcement who were trying to advise me to just shut up as I had began running my mouth about being removed from the plane for no apparent reason and without any warning. The statements being pedaled in this article and other articles that I was drunk, unruly, feisty with flight attendants, and belligerent are patently false. The following statement “Stop telling me to wear a mask or I’ll slap the shit out of you!” was absolutely not something that I ever said. Nor did I say anything remotely like that. Any site or persons making false statements about me which are defamatory, libelous and slanderous will be hearing promptly from my attorneys as will American Airlines for their unjustified actions.

    The foregoing is written without prejudice and is not intended to be a complete statement of the facts or of the law relevant to this matter, nor of my legal and equitable rights and remedies, all of which are hereby expressly reserved. Nothing stated herein or omitted herefrom shall be deemed an admission, waiver, or limitation of any right, remedy, defense or cause of action of any kind whatsoever, all of which are hereby expressly reserved.

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