A passenger on a transatlantic United Airlines flight from Brussels to Chicago O’Hare became so frustrated with a flight attendant whom she believed was being rude for the whole flight, but then allegedly took things up a notch when she started cussing out the crew member before threatening violence.
The incident occurred on July 20 as United flight UA-973 was flying above the Atlantic Ocean en route to Chicago. Details of what occurred aboard the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner are now coming to light as other passengers try to piece together what happened to the angry passenger.
“The woman on our flight who threatened our flight attendant, does anybody know what happened?” one passenger wrote on Reddit. “I saw the police officers waiting on the bridge, but they wouldn’t let anybody hang around to see how it ended.”
Fully admitting that they only wanted to know because they are ‘nosey,’ they were in luck when other passengers fed their curiosity with further details about exactly what went down.
According to witnesses, the suspect thought the crew member was being rude and projected this energy right back at her.
“The attendant got called an ugly ass b**ch,” one person said. Another added: “She literally said, ‘If you’re going to be fat and ugly, you’re in the wrong profession.'”
The woman then allegedly said: “I will f**k her up… I understand why passengers get violent with flight attendants.”
As you can probably imagine, this dispute did not end well for the passenger. While the flight attendants worked to de-escalate the dispute in the air, they weren’t just going to let her make violent threats.
On the ground, law enforcement had been called and were waiting to meet the aircraft on arrival.
No matter how rude you think a flight attendant is being, meeting that perceived energy with vulgar language and threats of violence is most definitely not the way to handle this kind of situation.
When your behavior reaches the point that you are becoming a distraction for the crew, you run the very real risk of being arrested and charged with ‘interference with flight crew’ – a serious federal offense that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment, and a fine of up to $250,000.
The threshold for indictment is relatively low. Prosecutors merely have to be satisfied that the perpetrator’s actions caused interference with the normal responsibilities of the flight attendants.
And even if criminal prosecution isn’t pursued, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) still has the power to pursue civil financial penalties, and airlines aren’t afraid to permanently ban passengers.
hilarious comment. having experienced how awful so many flight attendants are, it was likely deserved. unfortunate the passenger got popped for it, but hopefully the cops and/or da will view it in full context. the flight attendant should be investigated by united for whatever she did to provoke that reaction and possibly also for her reaction to snitch, which is, btw, totally on-brand for a fat and ugly flight attendant.