Sep. 28—Passengers aboard a cross-country American Airlines flight from Miami to Los Angeles on Tuesday experienced a frightening moment when a woman aboard the plane began screaming and asking other passengers to repent.
As reported by Yahoo News' Justin Rohrlich, Flight 1295 to Los Angeles departed Miami International Airport in the early hours of Tuesday morning but ultimately was diverted to El Paso International Airport following a "disturbance in the cabin featuring an unruly passenger," according to American Airlines spokesperson Derek Walls.
A business passenger who wished to remain anonymous told Rohrlich that the flight made an abrupt landing in El Paso after a woman aboard the plane rushed up to him and his seatmate and began repeating "Repent, repent, we're all gonna die." The woman's voice grew louder as she reiterated the words, ultimately screaming, "Redemption is coming! Redemption is coming!"
The passenger told Rohrlich that flight attendants intervened as the woman became more agitated and secured her in a pair of flex cuffs. Attendants sat next to the woman, attempting to calm her down, and an off-duty police officer offered to sit with her, according to Rorhlich.
When attendants asked if the woman needed "to get off this plane," she replied "yes," and the flight was grounded shortly thereafter in El Paso, where firefighters checked the aircraft for explosive devices, Rohrlich reports. No such implements were discovered, and the woman was escorted from the plane. It remains unknown if charges have been filed against her.
Disturbances in the air have become an increasingly commonplace feature of U.S. flights over the past two years. The Federal Aviation Administration in July recommended its largest fine ever ($81,950) for a woman accused of hitting, spitting, biting and headbutting crew members aboard a domestic flight. As of September 20, the FAA has received 1,973 reports of unruly passengers and initiated 680 investigations involving such incidents in 2022. In 2021 the number of unruly passenger investigations undertaken by the FAA spiked to 1,099—a 500 percent increase from the agency's 2020 total of 183. Mask-related incidents were the chief cause of these inquiries, though attacks by passengers on flight attendants and other passengers persisted in 2022 following the easing of mask requirements on domestic flights.
Last week an American Airlines passenger aboard a flight from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to Los Angeles was detained by the FBI and banned from the airline after punching a flight attendant in the back of the head. In February a first-class Delta Air Lines passenger identifying himself as "homophobic" hurled ice and slurs at a flight attendant who refused to provide him with additional alcoholic beverages aboard a flight from Atlanta to Phoenix.
Such incidents have prompted U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to weigh in on the state of unruliness pervading American air travel.
"If you are on an airplane, don't be a jerk and don't endanger the flight crews and fellow passengers," Pete Buttigieg said during an appearance on "The View" in April. "If you do, you will be fined by the FAA."
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