Flight Attendants On JetBlue Flight From London Struggle to Restrain ‘Intoxicated’ Passenger But Man Swerves Arrest After Touchdown

An ‘intoxicated’ passenger onboard a JetBlue flight from London to New York had to be restrained by four off-duty prison guards and two flight attendants after he started to act erratically and became aggressive towards his girlfriend on Tuesday.

Video taken by shocked onlookers showed the passengers and flight attendants struggling to gain control over the suspect as his girlfriend initially attempted to intervene before imploring her boyfriend to comply during the eight-hour flight from London Gatwick.

So this happened on a @JetBlue flight out of @Gatwick_Airport to New York. 4 British prison officers detained a drunk, violently aggressive male who had threatened his female companion and aircrew. They managed to restrain him and prevent the flight being diverted 1/2 pic.twitter.com/M5WmZOADOV

— Nick ❤️🤍 (@TheGunnerNick) January 31, 2024

On arrival in New York, the aircraft was met by local law enforcement, but surprisingly, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed that no arrests were made from JetBlue flight 1926 on January 30.

In a statement, JetBlue said its flight attendants stepped in when the suspect started to act erratically and became aggressive towards his seatmate. At this point, they noticed that the suspect had an open bottle of liquor at his seat that he had brought on the plane.

In a short video clip posted to social media site X, passengers are seen struggling to restrain the suspect in the narrow aisle of the Airbus A321neo, which operates JetBlue’s transatlantic flights.

At one point, the suspect appears to wriggle free before the passengers manage to drag him further along the aisle, where he was then placed in restraints for the remainder of the flight.

“On Tuesday, January 30, a customer on board flight 1926 with service from London to New York, began acting erratically and aggressively toward his travel companion and members of the inflight crew,” a spokesperson for JetBlue said in an emailed statement.

“The crew also discovered an opened bottle of liquor the customer had brought on board and indications of intoxication. For everyone’s safety, the customer was restrained with the assistance of other customers who were witnessing this threatening behavior.”

“We appreciate our customers’ assistance and understanding during this incident and apologize for the experience,” the statement continued.

The Port Authority confirmed that they received a report of a disturbance onboard flight 1926 but that there were no reports of injuries and no arrests were made in connection with the incident.