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Home » Delta Air Lines » Incredible: FBI Raids Wrong Hotel Room, Handcuffs Delta Pilot
Delta Air LinesNews

Incredible: FBI Raids Wrong Hotel Room, Handcuffs Delta Pilot

Matthew Klint Posted onApril 7, 2023November 13, 2023 21 Comments

a woman in a blue shirt with a yellow text on her back

Nothing like a botched middle-of-the-night raid that resulted in a Delta Air Lines pilot being dragged into his hotel bathroom, handcuffed, and interrogated for an hour to inspire confidence in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

FBI Raids Hotel Room Of Delta Air Lines Pilot In Practice Exercise Gone Wrong

In a scene that seems almost too outlandish to even believe, the FBI raided the wrong hotel room as part of a training exercise. A Delta Air Lines pilot opened the door. Thinking he was part of the program, agents rushed in, handcuffed him, and interrogated him for the next hour in his bathtub.

And then our fearless agents realized that they were in the wrong room. And the guy really was a pilot. And his protesting was not part of the act.

I was preparing a story about this earlier due to the hotel angle, but it only later emerged that it was a Delta pilot targeted by the misguided training exercise, adding a whole additional layer of cringe-worthiness to this story.

Per CBS News:

FBI and Department of Defense agents banged on the door to Room 1505 demanding to be let in.

A Delta Air Lines pilot who was a guest at the hotel was sleeping inside, woke up and opened the door. Agents barged in, handcuffed the man who is in his 30s, interrogated him and put him in the shower.

It was more than 45 minutes before they took off the handcuffs, realized their mistake and apologized.

Sources say the agents were conducting a training operation and a mock interrogation for a Department of Defense deployment.

No wonder it took place in the bathtub…

To make matters worse, the FBI did not even apologize, issuing the following statement:

At approximately 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, the FBI Boston Division was assisting the U.S. Department of Defense in conducting a Department of Defense (DOD) training exercise at a hotel in Boston to simulate a situation their personnel might encounter in a deployed environment.

Based on inaccurate information, they were mistakenly sent to the wrong room and detained an individual, not the intended role player. Thankfully nobody was injured. The Boston Police Department was called and responded to the scene to confirm that this was indeed a training exercise.

Safety is always a priority of the FBI, and our law enforcement partners, and we take these incidents very seriously. The Boston Division is reviewing the incident with DOD for further action as deemed appropriate.

Yes, I’m so happy that safety is always a priority and that you are thankful no one was injured. Of course, you’ve got to give the Delta pilot a few nights before the PTSD sets in…

CONCLUSION

A Delta pilot was awakened in the middle of the night by a team of FBI agents, who thought they were taking part in a training exercise. But the pilot was not in on the plot and must have suffered quite a bit, even if not physically, during the interrogation that occured in his hotel room bathtub.

Dear FBI, do better. And own up to your mistakes. Or were you looking for Iraqi WMDs in the Delta pilot’s socks? It’s a good thing this pilot was not injured, but even absent a physical injury I’d be consulting with an attorney over a hefty lawsuit over this tomfoolery.

image: FBI

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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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21 Comments

  1. Adil Reply
    April 7, 2023 at 9:44 am

    This line brightens my morning, “…looking for Iraqi WMDs in the Delta pilot’s socks?” Good one!

    • derek Reply
      April 7, 2023 at 9:27 pm

      Iraq had WMD, chemical weapons. Saddam wanted the US to think he had nuclear WMD. The footnote is that by the time of the invasion, Saddam no longer had chemical weapons.

      Iraq may have been good for the US because it taught America that taking over a country is very hard unless the country is very small, like Grenada or Panama.

  2. Malik on Wall Street Reply
    April 7, 2023 at 9:50 am

    Just in general, if anyone makes a mistake, that person needs to accept responsibility and make the situation right, which includes compensation.

  3. Brandon Reply
    April 7, 2023 at 10:35 am

    Maybe we should disband all the alphabet soup agencies and stop pretending they serve a purpose other than to harass citizens. Just a thought….. But I guess that is my “white wing” propaganda you talk about all the time.

  4. JoeMart Reply
    April 7, 2023 at 10:49 am

    How come highly qualified intelligence trainees didn’t verify his work ID and driver’s license first? Taking 45 minutes to verify identity should disqualify these students from ever working a job that requires analytical skills. The FBI should outsource training to Israeli intelligence.

    • Bob Reply
      April 8, 2023 at 9:33 am

      The wording of the FBI statement suggests the person in the room was the intended student. Possibly an intelligence officer going through some type of resistance training in case they were arrested and interrogated in another country. The FBI and DOD agents were roleplaying foreign security and the whole point was for them to be extremely intimidating and over the top. Also explains why they wouldn’t stop or check ID when the person in the room claimed to be someone innocent (like an airline pilot on a layover).

  5. Doug Reply
    April 7, 2023 at 10:55 am

    The good thing is that our Federal Government has exceptionally high standards of excellence with robust accountability. I’m sure that the people responsible will be properly disciplined and this gentleman will be reasonably compensated.

  6. LARRY JOHNSON Reply
    April 7, 2023 at 11:24 am

    How did Delta handle his crew rest interruption?

  7. Jan Reply
    April 7, 2023 at 12:36 pm

    Monumental fail. Written apology is not enough, monetary compensation is the bare minimum.
    But look on the bright side, it could have been worse, it could have been local PD who would have shot the poor bastard before realizing it was a mistake

  8. Thomas Paine Reply
    April 7, 2023 at 12:58 pm

    Nothing will happen. All idiots in ol Ed will go on to keep farting in their seats and terrorizing innocent people until they retire on a fat pension, at our expense. The feds are a true mafia, literally untouchable.

  9. Jerry Reply
    April 7, 2023 at 1:30 pm

    That’s odd. Law enforcement agencies in the USA rarely make mistakes, and when they do, they are held accountable. This must just be a one-off.

  10. Maryland Reply
    April 7, 2023 at 1:54 pm

    Curious that the training exercise was being conducted in an occupied section of the hotel. Surely the noise would be disruptive to the guests and somewhat scary

    • Mr. Marcus Reply
      April 7, 2023 at 2:43 pm

      This is what I thought as well– you’re doing this in an occupied hotel, at night? WTF is wrong with these people? Even if you get this right, what about the impact to the nonparticipating guests of the hotel? And if you get it wrong– it looks like this.

  11. Batchcaloupe Reply
    April 7, 2023 at 5:34 pm

    They will investigate themselves and find that there was no wrongdoing whatsoever. Why would that warrant an apology??

    Maybe he was one of those terrorist parents who object to school lessons for 6 year olds about how to put a condom on a cucumber !!

  12. chad Reply
    April 7, 2023 at 7:16 pm

    Disband the FBI

  13. BHN Reply
    April 7, 2023 at 9:00 pm

    Seriously, does anyone trust the FBI anymore? What a joke. If only it were funny.

  14. Kevin Reply
    April 8, 2023 at 1:45 am

    This is exactly what happens to any company or agency, when you replace qualified, trained, educated prospects with DEI hires. Change my mind, I’ll wait.

    • UA-NYC Reply
      April 8, 2023 at 4:53 pm

      The previous three posts are sponsored and brought to you by the supposed law and order right wing Republican Party. Classic “defund the police” mentality.

      • GS Reply
        April 8, 2023 at 7:01 pm

        No more like defund the STASI thugs, who are working as an arm of the Democrat party to crush the political opposition

  15. Dunn Reply
    April 8, 2023 at 4:31 pm

    This might have been an episode on Seinfeld – waking up Kramer.
    Too funny!!!!

  16. GS Reply
    April 8, 2023 at 6:58 pm

    I’m surprised they didn’t make up some sort of story about how he was actually a terrorist, and then shot him in the back of the head as he was supposedly trying to escape. Cover up the embarrassment that way. That would be more like the FBI we all know.

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