At least two people were removed from an American Airlines flight to New York after a woman attempted to breach the cockpit to question the pilots over a delay.
A video posted to social media showed a woman surrounded by flight attendants as a pilot opened the door to the cockpit on Thursday.
Seconds later a male flight attendant takes the woman to the ground to avoid her overtaking the cockpit, leading her to threaten to kick the flight attendants ‘in the balls,’ according to a report in Aeroin, a flight magazine.
A man in one of the first-class seats stands up barefoot and begins yelling at the flight attendants in Portuguese.
The woman begins yelling again as two crew members keep her contained, saying that they wanted to know the reason for the delay, the publication said.
As she is escorted toward the back of the plane she engages in a shouting match with the other passenger.
‘You son of a b**ch, disgusting, you can’t touch me, you don’t know who you’re talking to, you’re going to get screwed. I went to ask why I was late and this [man] threw me out,’ she yelled, according to the publication.
Another male flight attendant stopped to try and calm down the male passenger, who was later escorted off the plane, according to Aeroin.
Due to the commotion the flight was delayed even longer as it had to taxi back to the gate to remove the passengers.
The flight from Sao Paulo to New York City eventually took off two hours and 25 minutes later than its departure time, Aeroin said.
American confirmed the plane returned to the gate.
‘The safety of our customers and employees is our top priority and we thank everyone for their understanding,’ it said.
It comes after a father threw himself at a hostess in an attempt to force his way into the cockpit on an American Airlines flight from NYC to Milan earlier this month.
Krystie Tomlinson, a passenger on the flight, told CBS News: ‘The whole thing started because of a meal choice they didn’t get.’
She said it appeared the passenger had asked for a specific meal ‘ahead of time’, and also wanted to sit in the exit row because he had a baby with him.
When his demands were rejected, the witness said ‘those two things are what pushed the person over the edge.’
Another passenger, Michael Scigliano, said the chaos on board was made worse by the fact there was no air marshal on board.
He said after the pilot announced he was turning the plane around, passengers were left with ‘this crazy man’ in the plane ‘unprotected and unrestrained.’
