NYC bound plane diverted over unruly passenger
Seats are shown on a Delta plane
NEW YORK - A Delta Air Lines flight traveling from Los Angeles to New York was forced to make a pit stop in the middle of its journey Thursday evening after a passenger was deemed unruly.
Delta Flight 1131 diverted to Detroit due to a "customer issue on board," according to the airline. Upon landing, law enforcement officers boarded the plane and the passenger was taken off the flight on a gurney.
CBS' Dana Jacobson, who was on board, posted a video of the incident on Twitter.
All passengers were asked to deplane while authorities removed the passenger who, according to the Twitter footage, appeared to be yelling using profanities toward authorities and fellow passengers.
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Jacobson tweeted that a passenger told her that the woman was drunk.
"The woman next to her according to this passenger finally had enough & went to get the flight attendants," Jacobson wrote.
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The pilot reportedly told passengers that the passenger had created a threat and that the plane would have to make an unscheduled stop before continuing to New York.
Shortly after, the flight continued safely to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York an hour and a half later, according to Delta.
"We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and delay, though the safety and well-being of our customers and crew is always Delta’s top priority," a Delta spokesperson told FOX Business in a statement.
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The Federal Aviation Administration has been cracking down on reports of unruly passengers and has already proposed numerous fines against a handful of them.
In its latest enforcement action, the FAA proposed civil penalties ranging from $9,000 to $15,000 against five passengers "for allegedly interfering with and, in two cases, assaulting flight attendants."
The FAA has a zero-tolerance policy for airline passengers who create disturbances on flights or disregard flight crew instructions or "engage in conduct proscribed by federal law."
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"Federal law prohibits interfering with aircraft crew or physically assaulting or threatening to physically assault aircraft crew or anyone else on an aircraft," the FAA said in a news release. "Passengers are subject to civil penalties for such misconduct, which can threaten the safety of the flight by disrupting or distracting cabin crew from their safety duties."
However, the agency didn't identify any individual facing a civil penalty.