Duct Taped Passenger Speaks After New Video Emerges From His Flight

by Gary Leff

By now much of the world has seen video of the Frontier Airlines Philadelphia – Miami passenger duct taped to his seat after reportedly spilling a cocktail on himself, taking off his shirt, touching up flight attendants and getting into a fight. The flight attendants who used the duct tape were suspended.

There’s new video that’s emerged of the passenger screaming for help as the plane lands, and he’s now expressing himself publicly about the incident.

Here is the original video of the man being subdued and duct taped.

And now new video has emerged of the passenger in his seat, screaming for help, as the plane prepared to land. This is right before the aircraft was met by law enforcement and the man taken into custody.

Well, passenger Max Berry is speaking out on Twitter. He denies groping anyone and says he’s a victim and this will always follow him.

And oddly there’s much online discussion of this Frontier Airlines passenger’s financial position (he claims to be extremely wealthy, warning: language).

I don’t know whether the reported behavior inflight happened exactly as the police report suggests. However his public tweets tell me he’s not likely someone I want to have beers with. He tweets about the body proportions of Hispanic women, safe sex and more.

His attitude towards women and sex, when he’s accused of groping female flight attendants, doesn’t help him. And tweeting about the incident is probably inadvisable when there are pending charges. And as his own character witness I’d imagine joining Twitter earlier this year may not have been the best idea.

About Gary Leff

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 »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Pingbacks

Comments

  1. He is a crazy drunk person. Please ignore him. Of course he is asking for help because his wacky actions finally led to a bad outcome. He is probably not used to that. Now he is sobering up and doing damage control. Go figure…..

  3. There must have been a better solution than duct taping him to the seat. That picture seems pretty awful.

    Not at all defending his actions. But two wrongs don’t make a right.

  5. Has anyone investigated which of the awful dirty establishments at PHL served him?

    That should not be too hard to reverse engineer?

  7. It takes a special kind of douche to flex over your parents “wealth.”

    Also not sure $2MM is something to flex over.

    You’re sitting in the 3rd to last row of economy. On Frontier, “bro.” Dude got what he deserved.

  8. If you can’t hold yourself, don’t drink yourself!

    And the 2 million might help him get a private jet so he can act up a little but it won’t get it for him too often.

  9. There’s no psychiatric test given when buying an airline ticket. Previously, passengers who have exhibited inappropriate behavior during a flight have gone so far as to charge the flight deck door or attempt to open the aircraft’s main door mid-flight. If left unchecked, what might this guy have done? With such an unknown, the flight attendants’ choice become clear . . . and, it’s not, “Well, let’s see what happens.”

    What we don’t want is NTSB investigators finding cell phones among the wreckage that contain video of a guy breaking into the flight deck or opening the aircraft’s main door mid-flight. And, then, the NTSB investigators ask themselves, “Why didn’t they duct tape this guy?”

    Consider how many flight attendants have been “taken out” with a single punch in the past year.
    Now, it’s a straight line to the door. Before each flight, everyone on an aircraft needs to ask oneself what one would do in a situation where an unruly passenger takes that next step and the flight attendants are overwhelmed.

  10. So what would happen in an emergency landing if a pax was duct-taped to a seat ? What would be the protocol? Note: I’m all for dealing with unruly pax but I am curious .

  11. I agree with Reno Joe. What else might he have done to possibly endanger other passengers. He assaulted someone, therefore needed to be restrained from causing further assaults or worse. If it had taken place in a bar on the ground, the bouncer would have kicked him out. Kudos to the crew for not resorting to that temptation. I wholeheartedly applaud the flight crew for protecting everyone. I hope he faces prosecution. He was very fortunate they didn’t duct tape his mouth as well. Afraid I would have.

  13. Grow tfu. No matter how drunk, rich (who gives a fuck), you don’t act like that and get away with it. Those flight attendants don’t get paid enough or trained enough (my daughter is a FA) to put up with unruly assholes like you. Who tf do you think you are!!?! I’m a 64 female and I would of kicked your ass, nothing but a big mouth asshole who thinks their entitled. I hope your banned for life from flying. So glad it went viral and I hope it ruins your life.

  14. That’s crazy. My only criticisms of the taping are (1) I know this is nit-picking but I’m a big fan of duct tape and that doesn’t look like duct tape to me 😉 And (2) Taping over his mouth. Yes they wanted to shut off his blabbing but I do think that introduces a non-zero level of risk to a person’s health that outweighs the nuisance of having to listen to his nonsense.

  15. That looks more like masking tape, but I could be wrong. Wow, that must have been quite a show. And as others have said, if you’re so rich, American has several flights a day with first class between PHL and MIA.

  17. The airline crams people into tight spaces.
    Eliminates food served on plane.
    Eliminates entertainment on the plane. No Video, no music, no magazine.
    Charges extra for everything to force even more people trying to play games to avoid fees.
    Now forces them to wear masks which adds to their misery, understandable but misery regardless.

    Now everyone is surprised that people get angry and attack each other and flight attendants?

    I’m not condoning what this guy did at all, but upper management of the airlines should be flying the back of the plane and understanding the ramifications of their actions.

  18. That flight attendant should get fired!!

    Regulations didn’t grant him the authorization for taping somebody to the seat. Passengers can be restrained but not tapped to the seat.

    Flight should divert immediately, not kept flying to Miami. Frontier only wants to make money, doesn’t care about flight safety. Shame on Frontier!!!

  20. max berry seems to have gone to the same PR school as Matt Gaetz, learning to do disservice to themselves each time they open their mouth….just keep talking.

  21. I can’t believe I am responding to this with all the important priorities in ones life
    First up
    Two million dollars is nothing for a family its not much even for someone single
    Its not a sign of real wealth by any means in these inflationary times even if his statement is true
    That said I have friend that is sitting on 10 million is single and drives a year old Toyota Prius
    Happy to save fuel costs.The old story goes a poor man needs a bargain and a wealthy man loves a bargain!
    The flight attendants are heroes protecting each other their passengers and pilots from a white trash madman that is mentally unstable to fly.
    I will never fly Spirit as long as I live even free of charge.Its the company management and how they treat customers with their policies.
    I could care less about how they restrained him as long as the positive outcome of everyone coming out safe and alive was achieved
    In an emergency you do the very best you can under the circumstances even if its not exactly by the rule book.You do what you have to do.This flight crew was incredible and I salute them

  22. @MattG
    Frontier reintroduced food and beverage service in July. This passenger purchased alcohol on board.

    @rusty
    Being wealthy and flying Frontier are not mutually exclusive.
    Wealthy people are often careful how they use money. That’s often why they’re wealthy.
    If you understand and accept the ULCC business model, Frontier (and Spirit) have a strong value proposition, and are actually very convenient for last-minute, reasonably-priced availability for business commuters.
    I always fly in a suit and tie, and always get treated the way I expect and deserve.
    On less than full flights, Frontier usually moves me upfront, even though I don’t pay for seat selection.

  24. Jeff, “I do think that introduces a non-zero level of risk to a person’s health”.

    In another duct taping thread many people claimed this was dangerous, but when I asked if there were any documented cases of a serious problem in a similar situation, no one had any evidence.

    It is sometimes recommended for snoring or sleep apnea.

    Do you have any reason to think it’s risky beyond it seems risky?

  26. @Daniel – “There must have been a better solution than duct taping him to the seat.”

    Well, it’s impossible to open the door while the plane is in flight to toss him out, so there really wasn’t a better solution.

  27. He deserves what happened to him.
    Flight attendants are there for your safety! Not to be abused. Perhaps plastic ties that can be cut in an emergency. When you’re on the plane, follow the rules. You can complain once you’re off.

  28. Agree with last 2 posts. FAs should be given a bonus and PTO to deal with the PTSD caused by this passenger. Hopefully he is convicted and sent to jail for a few days to think about his behavior.

  30. I concur with & unconditionally support dwondermeants statement & contribution to this discussion.

  31. Oh come on guys give him a break! He was a drunk young man who deserves second chances. He is one of our own. The way some of the colored flight attendants treated him was not right. Y’all even defend some yellow people who they got assaulted. But you can’t show the same compassion to your own people?

  32. Holly What are you referring to :”One of our own? I don’t think of skin color especially when it comes to behavior. If he was my son, he would have heard the Rath of God when I saw him. Completely criminal behavior when on an aircraft!

  34. Duct taped and screaming for help

    …tbh this is how I feel on the inside when seated in economy class

    Thank YOU Max Berry for liberating our sorrows & all the future memes
    your shining moment will bring the inter-webs

  35. How else could they have possible dealt with him?

    The FA’s deserve a bonus plus combat pay.

  36. I don’t mind the use of duct tape to restrain someone who is a danger to either himself or others. The problem I have with the situation was the ongoing immaturity and indecency of surrounding passengers who contributed to the disruption with laughter, amusement, and verbal berating.
    Shame on the flight attendants for not intervening and managing the expressions and conduct of those other passengers who were fueled by gang mentality.

  37. Please clarify that the comments made on Twitter after the incident were from a fake Twitter account that has been reported and taken down. Your article is incorrect and you need to publicly correct it. Max Berry involved in the incident DID NOT make those comments that you quoted. Get your facts straight, please.

  38. Dan G amazingly no one else freaked out. Seems he’s just s dick. If ua don’t like the rules take business elsewhere.

  39. I am glad that you have a lot of money because you will be renting your own jet from now on! It’s time to take back the skies and only let respectable people fly! I hope every airline bans him from flying!

  40. The passengers who restrained him are to be commended. They ought to be well compensated for their heroic efforts. The airline is well ware that abusive passengers can be a problem yet do not hire flight crew who are physically capable of handling such passengers.

  41. Hey Gary,
    He did not allegedly “feel up” the attendants. Groping without consent is assault and harassment. The language you as an author use matters and you must do better.

  42. Gary, alledgedly you used the expression “feel up” but I don’t see it in your writing.

  44. The woman with the big mouth laugh should have been put off the plane also. To stand and male fun of and laugh at a person having a bad episode in their life is so low life

  45. To all defending this little punk, something is seriously wrong with you and what you perceive as acceptable behavior by an adult or even a child. I truly cannot believe this guy is whining about his destroyed life and a few others are excusing his actions. This guy was engaging in behavior that risked the safety of passengers and crew. I don’t care if it is or isn’t possible to open an aircraft door in mid-flight, the threat or intention to do so, is validation enough to take the most extreme measures to prevent some fruit loop from even trying. This ass wipe is entitled to a temper tantrum on the ground in his parent’s home. I cannot believe there are comments condemning passengers for laughing and mocking this punk. The punk deserved to be tazzed duct taped and paraded nude through the airport by law enforcement! No passenger should ever be forced to endure or fear the reprehensible conduct of another passenger, nor are flight attendants there to be fondled or assaulted. The airline CEOs condemning the duct tape should immediately step down and take a workshop on qualities that make a great and successful CEO that begins with integrity and unconditional support of its employees who reflect the qualities and policies that make your success! The punk’s parents should be ashamed and send the douche to military school. What an embarrassment as a man and a respectable and productive member of the community. Thank you to the crew who acted with professionalism and continues to return to their job everyday and thank you to the passengers who stepped up to put this punk down.

Comments are closed.