I was sleeping soundly in 2D when I heard a bloodcurdling scream behind me. A frazzled looking woman continued to scream as she rushed down the aisle of the 757 toward door 2L, the emergency exit just behind First Class, and tried to open it–while we were at 35K feet. Doors cannot be opened above ~10,000 feet, but a FA grabbed her as she went for the lever.
The FA cried out for help and two passengers rushed to her assistance. It took both passengers and the FA to constrain her. The woman continued to scream from the floor of the plane, saying she was a MIT graduate and that she needed to be released. She was bound with zip ties and possibly duct tape and finally quieted down.
An apology letter was handed out to each passenger as we deplaned at IAD, with instructions to go to united.com/appreciation for compensation. Nice to get a $350 voucher for something that wasn’t UA’s fault.
Departure was already delayed from San Francisco. The diversion to OMA didn’t help.
19 minutes? More like 2 hours, 30 minutes. IAD arrival time is correct.
Apology letter handed out to passengers as they alighted at IAD and also e-mailed to me:
On behalf of all of us here at United, I want to express my sincere apologies
for the experience you had on Flight 142 on March 28, 2010.
At United, we take pride in being a reliable part of your travel plans. Your
satisfaction and business mean a great deal to me, I would like to invite you
to visit the following website to select a token of our appreciation.
http://www.united.com/appreciation
Please have your flight information handy when you visit the site.
Family members who traveled together using the same email address should access the site individually.
Thank you for your time. Your satisfaction is important to us and we look forward
to serving you better in the near future.
Sincerely,
Sherri Hermance
United Airlines
Customer Relations
That’s just whack.
Remind me not to fly with you. 😉
I was in 5B (two rows in front of the wrestling match). I woke up when the Capitan announced that we were diverting to Omaha due to “an issue in the back of the plane.” I assumed it was mechanical. Then I heard two women yelling and the FA calling for help. Several men jumped up to help. I thought there were three men in addition to the FA. The lady was yelling that she was a 1998 graduate of MIT. The FA yelled for them to get her on to the ground. It look about 30 seconds for all of them to get her down — she put up quite the fight. The FA called up to the purser for duct tape and taped her ankles and wrists behind her back. After the duck tape, they hand cuffed her. I don’t know why they didn’t cuff her first.
After we got off in Dulles, I talked to a few people who were sitting farther back. They said they also taped her mouth. They also gave some more info about what happened before the altercation. She was distraught while we were on the ground at SFO. She was convinced someone had explosives or flammable chemicals. But, people also saw her mixing something in a mouthwash bottle. She hit the call button 3 or 4 times telling the FAs what she thought and requesting to be moved. People said she also hit the FA. I also heard that pills fell out of her pockets when she hit the ground.
It was a crazy thing to watch. I was surprised that we were only on the ground for two hours and that we never had to get off the plane.
Yet another reason to take the later redeye from SFO? 😉
In all seriousness, sounded like that woman was just absolutely crazy. Good think the situation was handled well.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to work!!!
Hiya – I was on the flight as well. Are you SURE she tried to open the door behind first class? I was sitting at the front of economy class, so I would have had a clear view if she had tried to open the door right in front of me. I was awoken when I heard the flight attendant screaming for help — she was bringing the woman from the back of the plane. So it seems she was never up front to begin with – they definitely came from the back.
I didn’t hear her claim that she was from MIT, but I did hear her screaming that she loved her country and that they were hurting her arms.
I was on that flight as well. I remember the Captain saying, “We have a problem in the back of the plane.” I looked back, expecting to see smoke or fire, but it was a woman screaming, “I am a chemist!”, running down the center aisle. I always look to the flight attendants when I’m nervous on a flight; if they look calm, I feel somewhat relieved. The flight attendants looked scared to death: that’s when I panic. Two brave, powerful passengers helped to wrestle her to the floor. Her hands were tied with zip-tie, and she was ultimately locked in a lavatory in the back of the plane. Meanwhile, the plane descended so rapidly–yet expertly–that I was audibly reciting The Lord’s Prayer.
Congrats Matthew – the new business cards must be working as it seems every passenger on the flight reads your blog. 😉
Where are the pix?
Not that I have the same following Matthew does, but I clearly need to stop hitting on flight attendants in front of other passengers.
Clearly, people who listen to the podcast and read the blogs are on the same flights as us – or it could just be the fact that this article is towards the top of the search list on Google for this debaucle.
@anonymous: Were you in 9A,B,C or on the other side? From my perch, it looked the woman grabbed onto door 2L and tried turn it. She was pulled away by the black FA, who then yelled for help. Two guys jumped up and pinned her down while the FA ran to the front galley, likely to get duct tape or the handcuffs.
@Em: Thanks for your insight. Very interesting. I must have slept thought the Captain’s announcement before the scream.
@whakojacko: Or maybe just avoid the middle redeye! There were three last night.
on the other side. hmm maybe you’re right – i possibly just didn’t see it. but that must have happened after the african american FA was already bringing her up from the back of the plane. the FA was already holding her by the time the lady was being brought to that middle section. so I’m wondering what caused the lady to have to be brought up to the middle section by the FA in the first place.
it was a terrifying flight – since we didn’t know if she was a terrorist or just a crazy woman or what.
@mike, maybe its the business cards, but maybe its that Matthew posts here more than once a week!
@Sean – lol you got me. I’ve got my first trip report coming this week.
Any idea why this never made the news?
Only a few small articles:
http://www.omaha.com/article/20100330/NEWS01/100329535
http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/89479782.html
I would have thought it would have made bigger news….
you got a $350 voucher?? I only received $250…Hmmmmmm
Here’s another article:
http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/nebraska/article_3546df02-3c3a-11df-bcc6-001cc4c03286.html
@brittany: UA doles out compensation based on Mileage Plus status. I presume I received an extra $100 because I am a 100,000 mile flyer.
Wow, crazy experience, good to see everything went down fine.
I was on the flight at almost the very back of the plane. I was awoken by the woman screaming that there were “chemicals on the plane,” and that we needed to know about the “chemical implications.” She kept saying that she was a chemist and that she “loved us all” but we needed to know about the “chemicals on the plane.” The flight attendants tried to grab hold of her, but she took off down the aisle toward the front of the plane where I gather from these other reports that she tried to open the door. After they got hold of her they brought her to the back row with duct tape over her mouth, handcuffed, and the two big male passengers sitting there to watch her. Before they took her off the plane when we landed she started saying that her Coach bag was in the overhead compartment, and please don’t let them take her without the bag.
Maybe people don’t realize why the woman panicked. Like the fact that while she attended school in New York City she was right near the Twin Towers and has been on medication ever since. And that overhearing even someone who was just nervous say, “this plane won’t make it to DC.” even if they were just a nervous passenger could make something in her brain click and cause panic. Maybe if she had skipped a few doses of medicine due to a weekend of partying and not wanting to mix with alcohol…could mean 3 days without medication and the small mention of the plane not making it safe whether it was someone joking or scared or a real terrorist would send this “crazy” woman into a state of panic. Its amazing that people are so quick to judge without knowing anything what so ever. People who were traumatized by the 9/11 attacks suffer from almost the same “craziness” that our soldiers who come back from foreign war countries do. Should we than ban them from every day activities? Monitor thier medication…YES! This woman made a mistake by missing her medication, but I don’t think that it is fair to call someone who actually worked for a Cancer Research Center and is a Dr. a “crazy” person because they were involoved in an experience that most people would have nightmares about. Let’s not make judgements. Thanks.
I was in 6B, was involved in the scrum as the crazy moved into the galley area and the end of the 1st class section. Her shoes ended up in my seat. I was in the seat right next to where her legs ended, her legs were restrained by a guy from around 3C. What a crazy scene. If I’d been more awake I would’ve been more scared.
what i don’t get is….how did they know the plane was safe to fly after our landing in omaha? captain fitzgerald made that announcement that if he didn’t think the plane was safe, he wouldn’t be flying it. but how did he know? and what IF there really were something on board? how did we know that it was the woman who was crazy and not the rest of us? glad it all worked out, but i was still a bit concerned before we took off from omaha again.
haven’t gotten my voucher yet.
I tried to go through the online thing, but haven’t recieved word of my voucher. I’ll probably have to call. As to the safety of the plane, we ought to be able to to access the process whereby the plane was deemed safe. Maybe through our representative in Congress?
Responding to the comment I just read from Anonymous: Your point is well taken, I am sorry for calling any person a ‘crazy.’ Please forgive my insensitivity.
@anonymous. Being a Dr./working at a Cancer Research Center and being “crazy” are not mutually exclusive. If forcing a plane to make an emergency landing in Omaha does not qualify a person as crazy, I’m not sure what does.
you guys got $350 and $250?? i only got mine today and i only got $200!
Sounds like anonymous needs to fly United more. Or less. :p
@kd5mdk: Good point.
Just more evidence that we are a prescription drug dependent society…