American Airlines flight AA1733 from Milwaukee to Dallas Fort Worth (Airbus A319 reg. N770UW) was diverted to Tulsa, Oklahoma, after a first class passenger assaulted a flight attendant on Tuesday night, 3 September.
The altercation began when the passenger was caught vaping, which is illegal on commercial flights. When confronted, the passenger became aggressive and forced the attendant into the forward galley. Other passengers intervened, prompting the crew to divert the flight. The unruly passenger was removed in Tulsa, and the flight continued, arriving in Dallas an hour late.
This incident is part of a broader trend of disruptive passenger behaviour, despite an 80% drop in such cases since 2021. The FAA has referred 43 passengers to the FBI for criminal investigation since last year.
I have the perfect solution to these problems with Violent Passengers but want say expose it online. I will get in touch with the Airline Com that I retired with and present it to them to explore . These criminal acts against inflight Attendants has to end quick !
WOW what a douche-bag! He waited until the Flight Attendant turned around and was walking away from him and then he punched him in the head, and then scurried to the back of the plane. Sounds like a major COWARD to me.
This shows that the attacker is also very stupid. You can not hide from all of the eyes looking at you. Plus it’s now a federal charge against him. This should also be an automatic placement on a nationwide no fly list. I have no sympathy for him.
The passenger should be under no boarding list for every airlines. Let him go by road or rail or ship but not air. His aggressive conduct is dangerous, and put unnecessary burden on other passengers. In addition, the airlines should file a lawsuit against him for the extra expense incurred plus any punitive damage.
Make the no-fly list PUBLIC!
Federal offenses carry high sentencing unlike state offenses. In Calif he would probably walk but now he’ll probably be doing ten years so we don’t have to worry about him trying to catch a flight for a while
Maybe they should stop serving alcohol? Most if not all of these disruptive passenger cases are alcohol related. I don’t think it will hurt anyone to put down their drinks for a couple of hours.
This flight disturbance was due to vaping not alcoholic beverages do try to stay on topic.