Shocking video from an American Airlines flight: a passenger brutally hits a flight attendant on the back of the head.
According to the airline, the incident occurred on Flight 377 from San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, to Los Angeles International Airport.
Since the attack took place in flight, the FBI has launched an investigation.
The video, posted to Twitter, shows the flight attendant standing in the aisle looking toward the back of the plane. He asks the passenger twice: “Are you threatening me?”.
Then he turns around and goes to the front of the plane. At that moment you see how the passenger lunges at the flight attendant and hits him hard on the back of the head.
But what happened beforehand? Why did the freak happen?
The passenger is said to have grabbed a flight attendant on the shoulder after take-off when he wanted to order a coffee. He was then asked to wait, as reported by the US news channel CBS.
He then attempted to move from his seat at the back of the plane to a seat near Business Class. However, this part of the cabin costs extra.
There is another confrontation between the passenger and the flight attendants because he is asked to return to his seat – the situation then escalates.
A separate video – also posted to Twitter – shows the passenger being tied up after the incident.
This is a common process, as a flight attendant explained to stern. Flight attendants learn how to deal with an “unruly passenger” during their training.
First try to de-escalate. If that doesn’t work and the situation gets out of control, a specific procedure is used. Here the aggressive passenger is secured in such a way that a safe execution of the flight is guaranteed.
After landing, the tied up passenger will be handed over to local authorities and face severe consequences. So also in this case.
“The person involved in this incident will not be allowed to travel with us in the future. And we will be working closely with law enforcement on the investigation,” an American Airlines spokesman told the Daily Mail.