Emergency Landing After American Airlines Crewmember Hit Erratic Passenger With Coffee Pot

American Airlines flight 1775 from Los Angeles to Washington National diverted to Kansas City after an “erratic” passenger tried to open the aircraft door during the flight. Passengers assisted cabin crew in subduing the man. One flight attendant hit him with a coffee pot, causing him to bleed, while passengers held him.

Passengers reported shock and concern as the plane came down quickly, since they weren’t told what was going on in first class. Once the plane landed law enforcement boarded the aircraft and removed the disruptive passenger.

Passengers applauded the work of the flight’s crew, and a scan of social media indicates everyone on board (other than the arrested passenger) having patience for the diversion. The flight is expected to continue to Washington DC shortly.

(HT: @crucker)

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 »

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  1. Now the bleeding heart nut jobs will come to his defense because this moron didn’t like the way someone looked at him or some other pathetic excuse, completely forgetting or ignoring the jeopardy that this cretin placed all of the other passengers in. People doing such actions belong in prison.

  2. Now some right wing nutcases will come to his defense saying it was his right to want to get all the airplane whilst it was in flight.

  3. Gary your story about airlines dropping first class doesn’t want to open (says oops page not found).
    Please help!

  4. Pilots are trained for these situations and the a/c are certified to do various maneuvers. They would not do anything to jeopardize the safety of flight.

  5. Watch as some right wing nutjobs, possibly with the initials D.M., come to the defense of a wack job just using his personal freedums to fight against the big government mandate to not open a plane door mid-flight…such tyranny!

  6. Is it even possible for a random pax to open a door while inflight? I understand the the differential in air pressure makes this impossible.

  7. “A scan of social media indicates….”. I love that people think this is the bar the flight crew has to clear to decide whether or not AA management should be congratulating them or telling them they should look for a new job.

  8. Keep up the mask requirements on planes, guys. When are you going to see the light??? It’s not alcohol or drugs, it’s rage against rules which are beyond annoying and useless. Americans don’t like to be pushed around by mindless bureaucrats and politicians. They’re pissed off when they walk through the airport door and it only increases as they go through security. By the time they’re boarded, they’re ready to blow for the slightest reason. What is it going to take to get the airlines to remove this senseless mask requirement? Perhaps when somebody actually kills a pax or crew member in flight?

  9. @ hewy judy

    That’s a quick jump. How do you know its not the seatbelts?

    Seat belts make people feel pushed around too. So much so we have to watch how to put them on ON EVERY FLIGHT!!!

    Likely the bureaucrats. Deep state, Jewish space lasers and the Gaspacho Police are to blame.

  10. As soon as this pesky virus stops airborne spreading by mouth and snout, we can get rid of masks. Until then mask-up judy, and bottle the rage!
    And get vaxxed if you haven’t bothered up to now.

  11. @Liberal Race Hustler: you should close your account, you just got owned by @UA-NYC. You deserved it with your use of the bigoted anti-gay slur.

    @huey judy: you need to see someone about your anger issues if the restrictions trigger this action.

  12. Airfare is too cheap. Bring back costly airline regulations and keep the hoi polloi on the ground where they belong.

  13. It is not even possible to open an airplane door at altitude and/or speed due to the pressure difference. They hit him for nothing and just should have let him try as it would have never opened.

  14. Getting kind of sick of apologists for bad behavior. Other generations have been through far worse things wearing a mask and managed to behave in a civilized manner and not try to crash aircraft, however minimal their chances of success. Time for adults to behave like adults and stop trying to throw their toys out of the stroller.

  15. Posters saying you cannot open door in flight due to pressurization miss two important factors:

    1) anyone in that state can hardly be seen as rational and breaking a window can be done as Southwest found out

    2) Not every pax in the equipment is type approved for this equipment and they would have been terrified not knowing the attempts were futile.

    Full marks to the crew and other pax on flight.

    We do not know facts but if medical condition, alcohol and or drugs were involved, we need to think about how we stop this. I seriously think alcohol level and presence of non prescription medication tests may start which will set off the right and left equally.

  16. lmao @ Mouaz Moustafa… “5000 fps”

    Pretty sure the a/c would have disintegrated at that rate of overspeed.

    Embarrassing.

  17. Time is long overdue for a NATIONAL Do Not Fly List that is shared by All Airlines operating within the country. The CEO of Delta apparently is the Only Executive really willing to take on this initiative because all the others are only looking at lost dollar signs. Complete and utter BS that these situations continue airborne.

  18. Oh STICK IT Patti.

    The AA FAs have been amazing the past 2 years during COVID and even before, it’s just easy for people to complain when they can hide behind a keyboard and a screen. I bet the loudest and rudest voices fly once or twice a year. Being a million miller and my first flight with AA when I was 6 months old (pretty sure it was a turbo prop too), The service and safety these folks provide are exceptional and during the past few years their restraint for NOT hitting people with a coffee pot is testament to their professionalism.

    Thank you AA for your crews dedication and keeping us safe in the air.

    Patti can get her own coffee.

  19. Why the sudden drop in altitude? That cabin door is not going to open in cruising altitude no matter how hard they try.

  20. Not sure why certain commenters here think that “right wing” people would come to the defense of a lunatic who belongs in a mental hospital. We tend to be the law and order types, while UA-NYC and their ilk applaud civil unrest.

    As for the nut who tried to open the door: lock him up.

  21. @AngryFlyer: my memory is clearly slipping but considering the four years leading up to Jan 6 the right has clearly lost any connection with “law and order”. Sorry but that is simply the truth, not that “truth” is associated with the right anymore either. But I give you credit for trying the “if I say it enough people will believe it”.

  22. @AngryFlyer, UA_NYC is a clown that throws the right wing/ race card every chance he gets. He is a sad and broken sock muppet in real life.
    I believe @Ray is its back door partner in the ny gay scene.

  23. Curious what it is about gay people that frightens you right wing zealots. Is it your god and bible interpretation? You do know it isn’t factual, right? But you wouldn’t, not many people that say they are religious truly understand the concept and building of faith and religion. But you know what they say, those that say the hateful things about gays are just afraid of their own gay sides going public.

  24. Was the erratic passenger an F passenger? Probably not, hence, a reason to not allow coach passengers up front to use the F restroom on AA.

  25. @Ray’s comment about gay people (where did that come from?) and right-wingers reactions are pretty accurate in my opinion.

    As to (religious) faith, well, that’s a fools errand.

  26. @Gary —> serious question. as I understand it, individual airlines are well within their rights to ban specific passengers from future flights on their airline, thus creating their own No-Fly List specific to *that* carrier. Aside from any potential (Federal) criminal prosecution for their behavior in the skies, is there anything that bars one airline from sharing their own No-Fly List with another carrier(s) in the absence of a Federal No-Fly List?

  27. @The Rest of You —> politics — left, right, center — has nothing whatsoever to do with this. This is a safety issue that affects not only air crews, but me and other passengers. Period.

  28. @Jason – I’ll defer to attorneys with experience in anti-trust, but I’d point out that Delta originally proposed this no fly list under pressure from their regulator to ‘do something’ about bad behavior on board, and so this could be seen as using private actors towards government ends rather than as purely private.

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