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Home » American Airlines » American Airlines Flight Diverts After Passenger Spots Lice In Seatmate’s Hair
American Airlines

American Airlines Flight Diverts After Passenger Spots Lice In Seatmate’s Hair

Matthew Klint Posted onAugust 3, 2024August 3, 2024 16 Comments

a close up of a bug

I’ve written about many diversions, though never one due to lice…but I don’t blame American Airlines for choosing to divert a New York-bound flight to Phoenix after two passengers noticed lice crawling over a woman’s head.

De-Lice-Ous: Lice Prompts Diversion Of American Airlines Flight

The incident occurred in June on a flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to New York (JFK).  Passengers were settled in for the transcontinental journey when all of a sudden the flight crew announced the flight would be diverting to Phoenix (PHX).

Ethan Judelson explains how it all went down in an extended 2-minute video on TikTok.

“I look around, no one’s on the ground, no one’s freaking out. I’m like, it can’t be that dire. But we land, and as soon as we land, this woman across the aisle from me shoots up and rushes to the front of the plane.”

People bolt up all the time in an effort to get off the plane a bit quicker, so Judelson just dismissed the incident. Meanwhile, the flight crew promised people would “learn what happened” after they got off the plane, but provided no further details for the diversion.

That’s strange…

Instead of more details, passengers were offered a meal voucher ($12…) and a hotel voucher and told their flight would continue to New York the following morning, 12 hours later.

Another passenger said, “Let’s just say it was in the best interest of everyone here that they did this. It’s for the safety of the plane,” which of course led to even more questions. But she too refused to provide more details.

The answer was revealed the following morning at the TSA checkpoint.

“I heard them talking about it again, and then tapped them on the shoulder and was like, ‘Did you say lice?’ “

Yes indeed, with one TSA officer explaining, “Apparently those two girls, they saw bugs crawling out of the woman’s hair…and alerted the flight attendant.”

American Airlines did confirm but the flight diverted, but stopped short of confirming any details concerning the lice onboard:

“On June 15, American Airlines flight 2201 with service from Los Angeles (LAX) to New York (JFK) diverted to Phoenix (PHX) due to the medical needs of a customer.”

Well, that’s quite diplomatic.

@ethanforyou

Replying to @Ana kyriakos i keep asking myself what i would have done if i had seen the bugs and honstly idk

♬ original sound – Ethan Judelson

As for that woman who jumped up and bolted down the aisle when the plane landed? Her seat remained empty.


image: Gilles San Martin

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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16 Comments

  1. Alert Reply
    August 3, 2024 at 10:02 am

    ‘Lice-woman’ ought never to be issued a ticket , nor allowed in the terminal , nor allowed to board . Three fails .

  2. Alert Reply
    August 3, 2024 at 10:19 am

    Daily Mail reports that Southwest deboarded a lady-nurse who had surgery upon her face to remove some sort of bumps , which were totally Non-contageous . The lady may take legal advice . She ought to have had a medical letter for documented explanation .

    • Rabbits Reply
      August 4, 2024 at 8:09 pm

      She did, in fact, have a letter from her surgeon. This one’s on SW.

  3. Maryland Reply
    August 3, 2024 at 10:43 am

    Years ago while boarding I noticed a child scratching her head. In flight mother investigates. Flight attendant tossed mom a towel, head was wrapped and flight continued. As vacation and camp season ends, parents please check kids before taking them home. ( lice from shared clothing and equipment is not unusual). Since then I keep my hair up while traveling. How an adult had such an infestation, I cannot imagine.

  4. Patrick Reply
    August 3, 2024 at 11:17 am

    Now, not only do plans have to be de-iced, but also de-liced. Hardy har har!

  5. derek Reply
    August 3, 2024 at 11:37 am

    Did the woman with the hair lice fly on the new flight? If so, why didn’t the LAX-(PHX)-JFK flight divert again except to DFW?

  6. JoeMart Reply
    August 3, 2024 at 11:53 am

    Matty has been on to something all these years. Bringing pets into the cabin is getting out of control.

  7. Billiken Reply
    August 3, 2024 at 12:11 pm

    Are you sure it wasn’t just gate lice?

  8. derek Reply
    August 3, 2024 at 12:48 pm

    Some unclear points…

    Was the woman who bolted one of the women who saw the lice? That would seem logical because the observer might be the one who is most scared, not an uninvolved passenger.

    I doubt that there was hair lice. Lice in the hair is very difficult to see without magnification or looking extremely closely. More likely, it was probably insects. Maybe the woman had a little honey in her hair?

  9. Turdhead Reply
    August 3, 2024 at 8:18 pm

    Probably Mexican illegal.

  10. Jerry Reply
    August 4, 2024 at 1:38 am

    I’d rather have lice in California than be clean in Arizona!

    • Klaus Reply
      August 4, 2024 at 2:36 am

      What’s does that mean?

  11. Dougie Reply
    August 4, 2024 at 1:47 am

    “I heard them talking about it again, and then tapped them on the shoulder”

    This person was lucky not to have been arrested and led away in handcuffs for tapping someone on the shoulder!

  12. Tjay Reply
    August 4, 2024 at 9:00 am

    Emotional support lice. AA will be sued.

  13. Diane Reply
    August 4, 2024 at 4:40 pm

    Turdhead. What an ignorant, racist thing to say. Shame on you!

  14. 4u2Know Reply
    August 5, 2024 at 12:27 pm

    Is “Turdhead” another way to say “Sh*t for Brains”?

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