Flight Attendants have a very unique customer service job. They are tending to customer’s needs just like any other customer service job, except they’re doing so in a metal tube flying thousands of miles per hour up above the clouds. Unlike other customer service positions, when faced with an unruly client who is endangering both patrons and staff, you can’t just call security or have them removed from the space. So what do you do? This woman was duct-taped to her seat after she bit an employee and tried to open the cabin door mid-flight. (1)
Unruly Passenger Duct Taped To Her Seat On Flight
Midway through an American Airlines flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Charlotte, North Carolina, a female passenger had a mental breakdown. She began screaming that she needed to get off the plane and even attempted to open the cabin door to escape. She was clawing at and biting the flight attendants who tried to subdue her. Finally, the employees duct-taped her to her seat for the remainder of the flight in an effort to protect herself, the other passengers, and the employees.
Chaos Mid-Flight
Another passenger posted a video on TikTok of the aftermath of the incident. The flight in question had apparently been delayed three hours and finally took off around midnight on July 6, 2021. The passenger who took the video says that around 1:30, the flight attendants began turning on the cabin lights. The scene, she described, was quite chaotic.
“We see all flight attendants running up and down the aisles, frantically kind of like whispering to each other,” she recalled.
The cabin crew wasn’t saying much about what was going on, but they began taking bags from overhead bins and locking the bathroom doors. Finally, the pilot came over to the loudspeaker to let them know that there was a “bad situation” near the front of the plane.
“Then we’re gradually starting to hear more and more screaming, and we’re like, ‘Wait a minute,’”
Just before landing, one flight attendant explained to them that a passenger who seemed to have some sort of mental issue had the sudden urge to get off the plane. She began banging on the doors and demanding that the flight attendants let her off and even tried to escape herself.
The Duct Tape
The situation escalated very quickly and the passenger began attacking, scratching, and biting crew members. It took five flight attendants to control her. They apparently wrestled her into a seat and duct-taped her there. They also put a piece over her mouth to prevent her from screaming.
On TikTok, where the video has since been taken down, there were many commenters saying that they feel the employees could have handled the situation better. YouTube commenters, however, seem to have a different opinion. (2)
“They need to charge that woman for Intention to harm everybody on the airplane,” wrote one person.
“That woman whatever was inside of her to make her act that way could have killed everyone on that plane including herself if they didn’t do what they did,” wrote another.
American Airlines’ Response
American Airlines has acknowledged and confirmed the incident. They explained after the woman attacked and bit their crew, the flight attendants did what they believed necessary for the safety of everyone on board. The woman has been placed on the airline’s internal “no-fly” list while they investigate the situation. Emergency response crews met them at the gate and took her to the local hospital.