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United Airlines is having a rough summer. Its Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) hub has been a mess (plagued by bad weather) and several of its flights have had to divert recently over passengers and crew behaving badly. A passenger headed to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) caused one when he couldn’t get his meal choice in Polaris® (more here) and a captain showed up intoxicated at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), which made the flight cancel (more here).
This past Wednesday, United Airlines flight UA1813 from Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) was forced to divert to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) when a woman onboard apparently freaked out over not being able to drink her own wine that she brought with her. She argues with passengers and a flight attendant before the plane is forced to land and she is led off in handcuffs.
@bperkins33 Yesterday was insanity. Had our entire flight landed so she could get arrested because she couldnt get wine on the flight lmao
TikTok user @bperkins33 posted several videos of the incident. She argues with the flight attendant in the video above. He warns her that they’re going to divert and that she’ll be arrested, but she doesn’t seem fazed.
@bperkins33 So annoyed that we had to land so she could be arrested but also free in flight entertainment lmao #karen #airline
Another frustrated passenger screams at her to sit down. This doesn’t work either.
The Daily Dot reported that there aren’t too many other details of everything that happened in flight. The flight attendant apparently showed her some kindness and gave her a hug during boarding to ease her anxiety, but this didn’t last long as she later raged and caused the diversion.
United Airlines sent a statement to The Daily Dot. It reads:
On Tuesday, July 25, United flight 1813 diverted to Phoenix due to a disruptive passenger who continually refused to follow the flight attendant’s instructions to return to her seat. Law enforcement officials met the aircraft on arrival and removed the passenger, and the flight subsequently departed for Los Angeles later that evening. The customer has been banned from future United flights while we review this matter.”
We’ll have to wait to see if any other videos or accounts surface, but this is just another example of an entitled (possibly intoxicated) passenger behaving badly.
Anthony’s Take: It’s been a rough travel summer and the extreme heat seems to be getting to everyone. We’ll see how many more passengers (and crew) misbehave as the throngs of passengers continue to chase their summer vacations.
(H/T: View from the Wing.)
(Featured Image Credit: Blake Perkins via TikTok.)
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3 comments
I just want to say, I’ve had that flight attendant before in first on a domestic flight… and he is SUPER nice…
I think he escalated his posture in line with the situation and staying professional…
This time it was “Karen”, usually it is “LaTasha” or “LeBron” 😁
Ridiculous.
All of these incidents make me wonder about the future of human life in America. All we need is to respect one another, and the rules in society, which the majority used to follow. Not anymore.
It’s been just about forever where you can not have your own alcohol onboard – that is not a United policy, but an FAA reg for everyone’s safety, so pax cannot chug as much alcohol they want at will. If people can’t respect that, then flying is mot for you.
Hope this pax is forced to pay UAs full expenses for the diversion, including emergency landing fees and those for other pax who need to be rebooked on new connections, extra crew hours, etc. these people who cause these type of diversions should be put on a universal no-fly list. There is no reason a single additional passenger should be subject to a diversion from a passenger who has previously shown behavior bad enough to cause a flight diversion.