An alcohol-fueled discussion over the upcoming Super Bowl turned ugly when a Frontier Airlines gate agent boarded the flight to remove one of the passengers. When the passenger protested and lunged at the gate agent, another passenger jumped up and placed the intoxicated passenger in a chokehold.
Alcohol-Fueled Frontier Airlines Super Bowl Brawl
The incident occurred on Frontier Airlines Flight 2415 from Cleveland (CLE) to Phoenix (PHX). Prior to the flight, one of the passengers had purchased alcohol inside the airport concourse, took it onboard, and continued to consume it once seated. This same passenger also got into a heated argument with his seatemate over this weekend’s Super Bowl LVI, featuring the Cincinnati Bengals versus the Los Angeles Rams.
Although he was in Cleveland (Browns territory), he expressed his allegiance to the Bengals, which apparently caused a stir onboard. It was the heated discussion over the Super Bowl that caught the attention of flight attendants, but they could not help but note his foul language and openly consuming alcohol. A gate agent was summoned to remove him from the flight.
But when the gate agent approached him and told him he would not be traveling to Phoenix, the passenger became upset and lunged at the gate agent. Another passenger jumped up and put the intoxicated passenger in a chokehold, which prompted the gate agent and the companion of the intoxicated passenger to wrestle with the man to pry his hands off the neck of the intoxicated passenger.
Once the two were separated, the intoxicated passenger walked off the flight without further incident, yelling out:
“I was a Bengals fan, I was the only Bengals fan. I’m not a bad person, bro, I drank a little too much, and one guy back there had a problem that I was drinking too much.”
He also uttered a tirade of profanity as he walking off.
A Frontier Airlines spokesperson confirmed:
“As Flight 2415 scheduled from Cleveland to Phoenix on February 9 was at the gate prior to takeoff, a passenger was behaving disruptively and was asked to exit the aircraft by a gate agent. The passenger became increasingly aggressive, physically assaulting the gate agent. The passenger was subsequently arrested by local enforcement and has been permanently placed on our Prevent Departure list.”
A video of the event was captured here:
Cleveland Police are investigating the matter: no charges have been filed yet.
CONCLUSION
Once again we see the problem is not alcohol onboard, but purchasing larger quantities of alcohol in an airport and then illicitly consuming it onboard. Whether the chokehold was necessary is a matter of perspective: the passenger certainly lunged at the much scrawnier gate agent, but there may have been other ways to subdue the intoxicated passenger short of a choke hold.
Place on the national lifelong do-not-fly list. They don’t deserve the privilege of being air passengers.
There is no such list.
Don’t care what happened here but i want to tell all the uncivilized people to treat women equally. Do not pull punches for women. If anyone is seen beating up guys and pulling punches for women they should be booked for hate crimes as well for discriminating based on sex.
It amazes me how people criticize the guy trying to help. I have been in law enforcement my entire adult life and have helped flight attendants when people have become unruly. The passenger did the right thing, dont make the OFFENDER the victim. He was attacking an airline employee. If you think he over reacted, maybe next time that same passenger just sits and watches the gate agent get hjs ass kicked. Bet the arm chair quarterback criticism , changes then. Unbelievable.
To be clear, I’m not condemning the man and personally think (from watching the video) he did indeed save the butt of the gate agent. But if you watch the video, one passenger onboard came to a very different conclusion.
And to think the merger with Spirit is not even complete yet.
Let’s see here- said passenger brought liquor aboard the plane, drank said alcohol, then got into a verbal altercation, then he lunged at the flight attendant and then this passenger was subdued by another passenger to keep the lunging passenger from attacking the flight attendant. Still with me here? Afterwards, this moron said that the passenger who subdued the disruptive passenger was at fault for doing the right thing – right? I applaud the passenger who subdued the disruptive passenger.
This is what happens when you turn the airport into the bus terminal. By charging low fares you get a lower class of people. Cram them together like sardines and add alcohol, this is what you get. You would never catch me on Spirit, Frontier these no class, low class airlines.
Yessss, one must avoid the great unwashed. .. One person is disruptive and you creat an entire group of unworthy people. It is heard to see clearly when one looks down the slope of there nose. don’t let yourself become fertil ground for inhumanity.
Dude….
Your point about cramming people in like sardines is valid. Your point about adding alcohol to that mix is valid–if it were up to me, everyone would get a CBD gummy at the gate.
But do you have to bring class into it like some kind of elitist jerk? People that don’t work at a hedge fund also like to go on vacation.
For the life of me I don’t understand why so many people in the world get so worked up over watching other people they don’t know play a game.
It’s either the alcohol, they live vicariously through their team and/or both. You go to a game, match at a stadium, and it can get needlessly ugly sometimes.
Folx are tribal by nature. Sports are a way to channel that tribalism. Better that than full-blown tribal combat. Race, ethnicity, culture, etc., are all markers of difference that folx notice. Noticing differences is what the brain does. Discrimination is not inherently malicious. Try to regulate or legislate away human nature and biological reality and you will have disappointing outcomes. In any case, I have never flown on Frontier or Spirit and don’t plan on flying the merged Frontier. For better or worse, United is my (and, of course, Matthew’s) tribe.
I can’t imagine getting this upset about anything related to Cincinnati, unless perhaps, a flight leaving Cincinnati was delayed and you had to stay longer.