A Delta Air Lines passenger who hid nearly three and a half dozen Xanax pills under his scrotum and threatened to kill an 80-year-old flight attendant during a flight from Omaha, Nebraska, to Detroit, Michigan, has been sentenced to one and a half years in federal prison.
Mario Nikprelaj, 24, from Shelby Township in Michigan, was responsible for a terrifying incident aboard the regional service operated by Skywest on behalf of Delta Connection last July.
According to federal prosecutors, Nikprelaj attempted to open the door of the regional CRJ-900 jet when the flight attendants had their backs turned when they started to deliver the onboard service.
Boasting an extensive criminal history of violent behavior, including domestic violence, disorderly conduct, breaking and entering, and assaulting a police officer, Nikprelaj should have known that his guilty plea in this case wouldn’t act as a ‘get out of jail free’ card.
Earlier this week, Nikprelaj was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, which will be followed by two years of supervised release. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa pointed out that there is no parole in the federal system.
According to court papers, Nikprelaj was disruptive even before the plane pushed back from the gate in Omaha on July 17, 2025. Nikprelaj allegedly made rude comments to other passengers and initially refused to put on his seatbelt before one of the flight attendants convinced him to comply with federal safety regulations.
Once in the air, however, Nikprelaj’s bad behavior quickly deteriorated. As the plane was still in its initial ascent, Nikprelaj allegedly repeatedly unfastened his seatbelt despite multiple requests from the crew to keep himself buckled in.
Nikprelaj got up from his seat as the plane was still climbing and poked an 80-year-old flight attendant in the chest. When the flight attendant warned him that he could be reported to law enforcement, Nikprelaj threatened to kill him.
The flight attendants tried to de-escalate the situation, and when Nikprelaj returned to his seat and appeared to have fallen asleep, they decided to start the onboard service.
With their backs turned, however, Nikprelaj allegedly started to ‘manipulate’ the emergency exit door close to his seat. The flight attendants were alerted to what was going on from panicked passengers pressing their call buttons in quick succession.
They quickly intervened, but Nikprelaj pushed the elderly flight attendant in the chest and continued to threaten to kill him. At this point, the pilots declared an emergency and immediately diverted to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where law enforcement was put on standby to meet the aircraft.
Even with the plane now on its approach for landing, Nikprelaj’s bad behavior continued. He took off his shirt and started pacing the aisle, prompting a response from his seatmates who tried to get him to sit down.
At this point, Nikprelaj allegedly took a swing at them. Even when he did eventually sit down, Nikprelaj continued to flip off the flight attendants.
In late December, Nikprelaj reached a plea deal in which he admitted a single count of interference with flight crew members. The maximum sentence for this crime is 20 years imprisonment, plus a fine of up to $250,000.
It’s incredibly rare for unruly passengers to receive a lengthy prison sentence in these cases, and Nikprelaj’s term of incarceration is unusual.
In fact, the court imposed a harsher penalty than the 12-month prison sentence federal prosecutors had been calling for.
In a pre-sentencing report, prosecutors praised the actions of the flight attendants who had shown “remarkable patience and poise in dealing with [the] defendant.”
“Whether defendant thought he was trying to open the emergency exit door is of little import,” the report continued. “The understandable concern his behavior throughout the flight caused in others is the measure of his actions.”
