First Class Passenger Calls 911 So Police Would Force His Delayed Flight To Take Off
He ended up being much more delayed than he anticipated after the cops escorted him off the plane.
kelvn | Shutterstock We’ve all been on delayed flights where we are sitting on the tarmac for what feels like hours. It's frustrating, but there's not much you can do about it. One entitled first class passenger felt otherwise, however.
In a story that seems stranger than fiction, an American Airlines passenger actually thought he could get his delayed flight off the ground by calling the police and asking them to force it to take off. Let's just say it didn't go according to plan...
An agitated first class passenger called 911 to report that his flight was delayed.
A video clip captured the passenger in question aboard an American Airlines flight and was posted on the X account @LasVegasLocally. In the short clip, the man appeared to be especially agitated as his flight sat waiting to take off. Two men, who seem to be American Airlines managers, stood in the aisle attempting to stop the passenger from making the call.
“This is a police matter!” the passenger could be heard angrily saying after being warned by staff that he would be booted off the flight. And booted off the flight he was ... by seven police officers no less! According to X commenters and the original poster of the video, the man was reportedly “high as a kite.”
The flight crew and pilots don't want to be delayed, but there are reasons outside their immediate control.
It throws off their entire day, and like the annoyed passengers who love to blame them for delays, they too have places to be and things to do.
However, most of the reasons for a plane's delayed departure are out of their control. There could be air traffic congestion that needs to clear up to avoid any accidents. Severe weather can impact pilot visibility. There could be unexpected mechanical issues that require repairs and inspections before takeoff.
These take-off hiccups impact flight crew as much as they do passengers.
Yaroslav Astakhov | Shutterstock
“Some passengers believe flight attendants aren't concerned about delayed flights, but we want to reach the destination just as badly as they do,” Brittany Smith, a former flight attendant, told Business Insider. “Contrary to popular belief, most flight attendants aren't paid as soon as we clock in for work. Hourly pay begins when the aircraft door closes and stops once we land and the boarding door reopens.”
That means that all that time spent waiting can often go unpaid. “Flight attendants can be on duty for 13 hours and get paid for only six or seven, depending on the length of the journey and the time between flights. So, just like passengers, we want flights to be on time, too,” Smith explained.
However, flight attendants do not call 911 when this happens, and unlike what entitled passengers may think, delayed flights are not a police matter. Perhaps the real issue here is that you should always plan for the unexpected when it comes to travel. Give yourself enough time to get where you're going, factoring in delays.
If you call the police to request that they get the plane off the ground, you can expect to be escorted off the aircraft in handcuffs. Good luck getting another flight after that!
Megan Quinn is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in English and a minor in Creative Writing. She covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on justice in the workplace, personal relationships, parenting debates, and the human experience.