When you travel, it’s normal to get restless: especially on a five hour flight. In this scenario there are a number of acceptable solutions: go for a brief walk in the aisle, jiggle your ankles, stretch your neck—the list goes on. There are also some borderline unacceptable solutions: drumming the chairs in front of you as if they were bongos, chewing large quantities of pringles, dancing in your seat to the Bee Gees—you get the picture. What one man just did on an American Airlines flight from Phoenix to Boston, however, sits snugly in the “definitely not acceptable” category.
As reported by The Independant, “An (unnamed) passenger reportedly refused to stop doing pull-ups on an overhead compartment,” which resulted in, “American Airlines flight 2763 from Phoenix to Boston” being forced to land in Kansas City, “So authorities could escort the unruly passenger off the plane.” Although American Airlines declined to comment, eyewitness David Markoski told WBZ-TBV news that the man, who boarded the plane with two dogs and appeared to be drunk, was the reason for the diversion.
The trouble started after the man, who’d evidently overindulged in something stronger than club sodas, placed his bags in the overhead compartment. At this point he began leaning against it. This led another passenger, either in a bid to ease the tension (or because they were irritated by the sloppy behaviour) to sarcastically ask whether he was going to do pull-ups.
“The guy actually grabbed on to it and started doing some pull ups on the plane in front of everybody,” Mr Markoski said.
Then, when a flight attendant asked him to stop, the passenger (allegedly) became verbally abusive, and refused to sit down.
“He would not sit down. The flight attendant probably asked him about three or four times to sit down and he refused to sit down and then he really got verbally abusive with her, starting calling her names.”
In response, the plane’s pilots changed course, stopped off at Kansas City where law enforcement officers hauled Mr. I Love Push Ups off the flight, and the plane continued on its planned route. Although American Airlines were able to salvage the situation, they will surely be reviewing it—to prevent such instances from occurring again, as, according to CBS’s source, Markoski, the man was able to order beer and alcohol on board—which shortly coincided with the standoff.
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