An American Airlines flight made an emergency landing at the Albuquerque International Sunport earlier this week after experiencing an in-flight incident from a father who threatened flight crews after refusing to manage his children who were running up and down the aisles.
According to multiple news reports, the Los Angeles-bound Airbus A321 flight originated in Charlotte North Carolina on Monday and was forced to divert to Albuquerque International Sunport to remove an unruly passenger and his family.
As noted by one news outlet, the incident appears to have started with unruly children being allowed to run up and down the aisles, unchecked. After multiple complaints by passengers, the flight crew intervened, confronting the mother and father.
However, the father appears to have not taken this kindly, becoming irate and, at one point, threatening the male flight attendant saying, “I have your information. I will find you and shoot you.”
At this point, the flight attendant contacted the captain who made the decision to conduct an emergency landing in Albuquerque. After landing at 10:25PM, the plane was met by local authorities who took the man into custody.
According to other passengers on the plane, the family of six was difficult from the outset having not booked their seats together and causing a bit of drama while boarding as they attempted to swap seats with other passengers to get their family together.
After the frustrating delay, the flight resumed and arrived at its final destination, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) later that evening.
The issue was referred to the FBI for further investigation.
21 comments
American Airlines policy does not group seat when booking online at the lowest fare class. Huge problem for families with small children. Dramatically increases anxiety and stress level for parents. That is not the root cause of this disruption, but is a contributing factor that American could easily address.
Or, the family could buy tickets at a higher fare class that offers this feature.
Costs AA nothing. Why penalise a small group, they’re not booking half the plane. AA are a POS, although wanker dad should have stuck to wanking, not procreated.
That made me laugh ???
I agree with your sentiment
A321 is a single aisle plane. So they were running up and down the aisle, not aisles.
Pedantic
No Delbert. Doesn’t work the way. If you buy Basic you don’t get a seat assignment. And I just refused a seat swap two days ago.
Take the bus if you don’t want to pay. I’m sick of brats on planes anyway.
As a father of 5 children, the children’s behavioural responsibitlies lies with mum & dad.
Behaviour should be no issue in public if disapline started correctly from begning of life.
What can you expect from such children when the father has no shame at all ?
You are so right Kids will always do what parents let them get away with
What is wrong with parents these days Have a little respect for everyone around you
Children running on a plane is unacceptable. Bumping into passengers probably screaming out of excitement. Discipline starts at a very early age. The parent even if he wanted to discipline because of the plane would not of been able to do anything about it because passengers were just thought that it was horrible, or maybe they would have clapped there hands. Hard to say. A lot of parents these days just want to be friends with there children or give them whatever they want because they don’t want to deal with the drama. By not disciplining your children your not doing them any favors. The father obviously has never had rules to follow or he wouldn’t have said what he did on that plane. He will see what discipline looks like for my prison cell.
Dad said “I will find you and shoot youâ€.
I hope he catches a felony and jail time.
Nothing like a ass whopping
No wonder kids growing up and come home shooting parents if they don’t get their way! No shame at all?? They don’t get to get out and bother others!
American Airlines (and all airlines infant) create these issues by not sitting groups together . It’s a money making scam and needs to stop.
Really? You can discipline your children without sitting next to them. This father refused to do that. You have the choice when you purchase tickets. He made his. AA did nothing wrong.
The problem wasn’t AA not seating the family together. The problem was disciplining the children. The mother and father sat together and the children sat a few rows back. Why couldn’t one parent sit with one group of children and the other parent sit with the other children to keep them from running through the airplane and disrupting other passengers?
The problem wasn’t AA not seating the family together. The problem was disciplining the children. The mother and father sat together and the children sat a few rows back. Why couldn’t one parent sit with one group of children and the other parent sit with the other children to keep them from running through the airplane and disrupting other passengers? An airplane is not a playground.
Airfares have not increased at the same ratio as salaries (passenger salaries as well), operating costs, etc. So if they choose to try to remain profitable by charging for their own resources, hats off. Grocery stores charge for bags, retail stores for restocking, entertainment venues charge more for good seats. Buy cheap tickets, pay fees. Hopefully this family will have to pay for the cost of the diverted flight. They should also be required to make restitution for the other passengers additional expenses incurred due to the delay they caused.
But really, what does that have to do with the fact that unruly passengers are unsafe and should be banned? Get a grip on your tempers & frustration folks. We all have them, it’s how we choose to handle them that makes the difference
I found that being attentive during boarding, looking people in the eye, smiling, assuaging their baggage anxiety was the only way to avoid problems later in the flight. It’s no secret that mean people are mean because they’re afraid. Show them that they are humans in a human experience and maybe they won’t get ugly an hour later. Has anyone mentioned that the boarding process is unpaid labor by cabin crew? Okay, paid at $1.85 an hour but not paid at a rate commensurate with the skillset.
The father who speaks with an accent said “I’m going to sue you for laying hands on my kid” as father claimed that flight attendant grabbed his kid and shook him by his shoulders.
The white lady passenger interpreted the father’s “sue” and “shoot”. 🤦â€â™€ï¸
Two parents – one should have been sitting with each group. Divided and parent. I saw the video of the children in the back of the plane. The floor was a holy mess and a poor lady unrelated lady was left to sit next to the little darings.