
A group of passengers on an American Airlines flight from Albuquerque to Chicago on Tuesday afternoon fought to overpower a man who allegedly attempted to open one of the emergency exits shortly after takeoff.
The Boeing 737 was still climbing out of Albuquerque when the man attempted to open the overwing emergency exit before other passengers and flight attendants rushed to stop him.
30 minutes after departing Albuquerque I was shaken out of my Panda Express and Tequila induced stupor by a man trying to aggressively open the airplane door 4 rows back. Me and 5 other dudes had to wrestle him into the aisle, duct tape his legs, and throw flexi-cuffs on him.… pic.twitter.com/zkrtEveYgQ
— The Wonton Don (@DonnieDoesWorld) February 20, 2024
Although it’s impossible to open an airplane’s emergency exit once at cruising altitude, it is technically possible to open an emergency exit at lower altitudes, and in several recent high-profile incidents, this is exactly what has happened.
In this case, one passenger described how they felt a “huge gush of wind” after the suspect allegedly managed to partially open the unguarded overwing emergency exit door.
In a series of posts on social media site X, passenger ‘The Wonton Don’ then describes how he and five other passengers wrestled the man down because he was restrained with flexicuffs.
One of the scariest days of my life. Flying back home from ABQ and we’ve been in the air for about 30 minutes and a huge gush of wind comes out of no where. This guy opened the emergency exit door. People were tackling him down and put him in zip ties. Had to emergency land back. pic.twitter.com/PojFvDU3rS
— LΛYZ (@layzdubz) February 20, 2024
American Airlines flight 1219 departed Albuquerque just before 2 pm on Tuesday and climbed to a maximum altitude of 23,000 feet before quickly descending and diverting back to Albuquerque International Sunport.
In a statement, American Airlines said:
“American Airlines flight 1219 with service from Albuquerque (ABQ) to Chicago (ORD) returned to ABQ shortly after takeoff due to a disturbance in the cabin involving a disruptive customer. The flight landed safely and the aircraft was met by local law enforcement upon arrival.”
Mateusz Maszczynski honed his skills as an international flight attendant at the most prominent airline in the Middle East and has been flying ever since... most recently for a well known European airline. Matt is passionate about the aviation industry and has become an expert in passenger experience and human-centric stories. Always keeping an ear close to the ground, Matt's industry insights, analysis and news coverage is frequently relied upon by some of the biggest names in journalism.
Nobody had anything sharp for him to remember the flight by?