UPDATE: A video has emerged on TikTok of the man yelling at flight attendants onboard, which prompted the diversion. The NSFW video is filled with vulgar language, but is comically pathetic. Dude, it’s just an airline meal. He claims to be standing up for his rights, but just makes a fool out of himself (likely fueled by intoxication).
@ifyoureashleyanduknowit We got to stop in Chicago to let this super nice guy off the plane. He continued to laugh and antagonize the United crew after these, and they handled it with such calm! #unitedairlines #unitedairlinestiktok #amsterdam #chicago #houston
This is just a snippet: Apparently there is more video that has not been posted yet…
The man claims to be a “frequent flyer on United” to which my response is not anymore!
My original story is below.
Such a silly diversion…especially considering how poor the food can be on United Airlines in Polaris Business class. Nevertheless, a European-bound United 777-200 diverted to Chicago after a passenger apparently could not take the blow of having to eat his second choice on the menu.
United Airlines 777 Diverts To Chicago To Dump Passenger Who Made A Scene After Denied His First Meal Choice In Business Class
I held off on writing about this yesterday hoping that video or photos would emerge from the incident, but since that has not occured, let’s run down what happened and why this is so silly.
On July 09, 2023 UA20 took off from Houston (IAH) for Amsterdam (AMS). However, less than four hours later it landed in Chicago (ORD) to dump off one passenger…who became quite unruly onboard.
Aviation insider JonNYC was able to obtain information from United’s crew chat feature that placed the blame on a passenger in seat 11G:
“Disruptive pax on board, seat 11G, threat level 1”
(Level one is the lowest threat onboard, yet the captain decided a diversion was still warranted).
It appears the man was intoxicated as well.
The flight had to circle Chicago several times before landing in order to dump fuel:
#UA20 from Houston to Amsterdam jettisoning fuel prior to diversion to Chicago due to an unruly passenger. https://t.co/aAyj03wnLY pic.twitter.com/FzGN6090MC
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) July 10, 2023
Despite having to refuel and handle crew scheduling issues, the flight took off again and only landed about three hours late in AMS.
Officially, United has chosen not to go into detail beyond calling the passenger unruly:
“United flight 20 from George Bush Intercontinental Airport to Amsterdam diverted to O’Hare International Airport and landed safely following a passenger disturbance. Law enforcement met the aircraft at the gate and escorted the passenger off the plane. The aircraft then continued to Amsterdam.”
Beyond any criminal penalties (it is not clear if there were any physical attacks), I hope that United sues this passenger to pay for additional crew labor time plus he cost of fuel and any other associated expenses incurred due to this diversion.
It’s Just (United Airlines) Plane Food!
The absurdity of this situation is that it was all over an airline meal, specifically an airline on United Airlines! Goodness, I’ve written more than anyone on the state of affairs of meal service on United Airlines over the last few years and the prognosis is that meals are still a work in progress.
Polaris passengers are given a choice of four meals onboard (and also now invited to preorder) and generally asked for their first and second choice when meal orders are taken. Meals are then sorted by priority, with pre-orders given preference followed by Global Services and 1K members.
Throwing a hissy fit over not getting fish (usually the first to go) or beef (another popular choice) is just absurd: I have to believe it was the intoxication at work.
CONCLUSION
Dear friends, it’s just an airline meal. And for goodness sakes, it’s just a United Airlines meal. Don’t sweat it if you do not get your first choice. You’ll survive. And for the passenger booted off in Chicago: I hope you lawyer up and I hope that United Airlines comes after you swiftly and severely for your poor behavior.
top image: @ifyoureashleyanduknowit / TikTok
The guy made a scene for UA food. It tells me everything I need to know about him.
Even after the update with the video, this is still the best comment of the thread.
Alcohol. Ban it from aircraft and airports.
What a crazy take! Punish everyone for a few a-holes.
I was assuming it must have been a meal for religious or allergy restrictions that didn’t get loaded. Thats the only way I could even begin to make sense of it, but who knows.
United never seems to load enough fish. My bet is it was that! 😉
Delta usually has fish as special order on international business class meaning you have to pre order when they send you the menu via email. Usually fish is not available to everyone.
It had to be the French Fries. Since Matthew’s glowing review people are clamoring for them throughout the world. Scott Kirby though, ever the quick gun at laying blame elsewhere, commented, “We have unfortunately been hit by shortages of our beloved French Fries due to FAA staffing problems.”
Talk about a tantrum….
What US flight attendants won’t do to get out of doing their jobs. My goodness.
If you’re going to play Tammy the Troll at least have your comment make some sort of sense based on what the article is about.
Sounds like we really don’t know what happened. Was this guy really a security threat, or was he just a jerk? It isn’t against the law to be rude to people; even to say very hurtful things. I’m not defending him, but he may not have any liability at all if the Captain decided to land because of their decision to divert, would could be fully rooted in the Captain’s own ego. I suspect the flight could have made it across the Atlantic just fine, and it would have saved time, money, and resources. Though a video could certainly prove me wrong.
Seems like this is predicting a problem. Today is July 11, 2023 and the text says the flight was July 23, 2023.
ha.
Was the plane re-catered in Chicago to avoid being short of choices? Imagine the riot that would ensue if the ice cream sundae cart service was discontinued or offering wine flights tastings.
If he can’t keep your sh*t together over a meal choice on an airplane, he is not stable enough to be on board a pressurized airplane, 5 miles in the sky, with dozens or hundreds on board.
That’s what happens when you rely on FOOD with an airline. That’s crazy.
It is time to call out and punish poor behavior. We have turned into a population of entitled bullies who believe that their behavior and actions must always be tolerated by others and always accommodated by service providers. Enough. Was the diversion inconvenient for passengers and crew? Certainly. However, what else would “Mr. Meal” have concocted to further disrupt for the remaining ten hours of the flight had he not been removed? How many complaints from other Polaris passengers would United have received for “not addressing” the matter?
It is time for toxic behavior to be addressed from abusive passengers, to ridiculous “emotional support” animals, to the ever-popular peanut allergies. Need emotional support from your pet iguana or can’t stomach the idea of a peanut butter sandwich within 20 feet or your choice of badly prepared fish isn’t available, then drive!
Speaking of not getting what you want…does anyone know if United enforced the 12 noon arrival time for access to Polaris lounges. Specifically IAD on a Tuesday. Thanks!
I knew it. Another boomer Trumper. Can’t that generation go extinct any faster?
Only people dying are the libs. Too much fentanyl and women who dont want to have kids.
The Hispanics will out number you soon and they are the fastest growing rightwing demo.
Lol. All the opioid deaths are happening in red areas. Also, I’m pretty sure old people are dieing faster than conservative Hispanics are coming in. Hopefully for you those republican Hispanics never realize you guys hate them. Lastly, we can’t forget about all the patriots that died from covid in the name of freedum, probably cost you the 2020 election and bigger gains in 2022.
I hope EU rule 261 is applied that fool costs them hundreds of thousands of dollars but he is a 1k so he can afford the bill lol
The video is not going to win any awards for cinematography.
Lol!
I feel soo sorry for him,,,,,,hard working idiot who hopefully just got on the no fly list,,,,,hope his wife, ex wife, mistress, or whatever piece of trailer park trash he may hang out with sees this,,,,,
Guaranteed MAGAtard.
Trashy tatts and entitled = libtard
He’s old as dirt and male so that makes it at least 90% chance of maga
I would complain if I got the fish
The guy was a dick but didn’t threaten, raise his voice, or do anything I saw that justified diverting and kicking him off. Over-reaction by crew.
While I think your point is reasonable based upon the clip posted online (as deplorable as his foul language is), it appears this went on for much longer and other, harsher words were levied.