I’m in Germany and went to bed last night just as this story was breaking. I admittedly chuckled when I read the headline last night, but this was no laughing matter.
Per Jon Ostrower, we have the official complaint against Joseph Hudek IV. Here’s a summary of key details:
Criminal complaint against Joseph Hudek IV on #DL129. It was an absolute melee in the forward cabin. Worst buddy pass flyer ever? pic.twitter.com/oPXUGl5pPs
— Jon Ostrower (@jonostrower) July 7, 2017
- Non-rev passenger traveling in seat 1D (Delta One [business class]) from Seattle to Beijing
- Went into and out of the lavatory twice after takeoff before lunging toward the exit door and attempting to open it
- FAs tried to stop him, but failed
- Other passengers intervened: Hudek broke a dessert wine bottle over one of them and punched several in the face
- Hudek succeeded into turning the emergency release lever on the door halfway up (by 90º), prompting a “disarmed” alert in the cockpit
- The door still was unlikely to open at that high of an altitude absent superhuman strength to fully turn the lever
- A FA smashed another wine bottle over Hudek, who reacted unfazed, shouting, “Do you know who I am?”
- Hudek escaped a headlock but was finally constrained by fellow passengers and secured to his seat using zip ties.
- Penalty for crew interference is up to 20 years in prison plus a $250,000 fine
This is how the cabin looked upon landing:
Hurricane Hudek…
CONCLUSION
Was it drugs? Too much alcohol (allegedly he was served just one beer prior to takeoff)? Perhaps a toxic mix of the two? Or just a deeply troubled character? Whatever the case, great praise is due the crew and passengers who restrained him. Three were hospitalized with minor injuries. The flight eventually took off again for Beijing.
Next up: a provocative question on how you would handle a similar situation.
I’m glad not another Chinese guy trying to open the door. When it first came out I was very sure that it would be another Chinese guy trying to open the door. Hopefully they don’t start doing blood test before boarding the plane.
Supposedly this guy was traveling as a non-rev on either a (family) eligible pass or a buddy pass ? If this is true, I really wish all airlines would go back to immediate family members only – no enrolled friends, no buddy passes, just spouse, children up to age 21 and parents – that’s it. You want your friends to fly?, buy them a ticket. Frankly I hope this is a catalyst to the airlines rethinking their non-rev travel companion rules – it is getting out of hand and RUINING it for airline employees. We work long and hard for these benefits, no idiots allowed ! I can guarantee that the person that “sponsored” this traveler will be in the hot seat, lose pass privileges for awhile and possibly their job.
How can you guarantee that a family member won’t be an “idiot”?
Well, you can’t, but years ago employees and immediate family members (the only eligibles) knew how to act on their best behavior. It was extremely rare to hear of any abuse. Obviously the world has changed. If this was an “uninformed” family member than shame on the employee for not giving them the lowdown on how to “behave”.
Many newer employees are not being careful about who they give their buddy passes to (though passes for immediate family are not called buddy passes) or give them to people they really don’t know. This has created a real problem in the “non-rev” world. If I know a family member or friend is a heavy drinker, I’m certainly not going to grant them pass travel privileges (risking my loss of pass travel or my job). When you open the door to all kinds of potential behavior problems, that is what you are going to get. Truly, I wish (my) airline would go back to immediate family only (spouse, children up to age 21, and parents). When they started the buddy pass travel (you can thank American Airlines for opening up that door), it has created a monster; they need to rethink this – and probably will due to this incident and the legging incident and other non-compliant, rule-breaking non-rev travelers.
The airline flight crews are no better prepared today, to deal with these violent incidents, as they were on 9/11/01. What if this was not just one lone psycho, but a group of determined terrorists? Even if they don’t have weapons, per se, they can still do a lot of physical damage, to the crew and passengers, The airlines had better wake up, and have security personnel on board, who are trained to deal with these kinds of incidents. Unfortunately, the airlines are too cheap to employ security personnel, and instead rely on their flight attendants, who in most cases, get the —- kicked out of them, during these violent encounters.