Staff
Video shared on social media captures the chaotic moment aboard an Alaskan Airlines flight earlier this month after a screaming man grabs the hair of a woman seated in front of him.
A violent episode aboard an Alaska Airlines flight to Portland, Oregon earlier this month was captured on video, with the airline applauding the flight attendant’s actions to control the situation.
The shocking moment was uploaded by a user on X, who then broke down what allegedly happened in a subsequent series of posts.
In the video, the male flight attendant can be seen holding onto a male passenger as others on the plane are shouting for him to “let go of her hair!” The man appeared to have a grip on the hair of the woman seated in front of him.
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Unsuccessful in getting the man to let go, the flight attendant can be seen hitting the man until finally the woman’s head moves as she’s set free and she pulls away from the man’s reach.
As the man is still clearly experiencing some kind of distress, the flight attendant keeps a hold of the unruly passenger and calmly has the person seated next to him get up so he can sit there.
He also asks if “another able-bodied male” can help him keep the passenger subdued as he is heard screaming and moving erratically in his seat as the video clip cuts off.
The individual who uploaded the video claimed that it all went down as the plane was about to take off from Oakland, writing in his series of posts that the passenger “started saying weird stuff and rocking back and forth.”
According to the uploader, the man had grabbed the hair of the woman “in front of him and wouldn’t let go so the flight attendant started punching him in the throat.”
They went on to note that after several minutes being restrained, police arrived and the passenger was arrested. The flight was also purportedly canceled, per the uploader, after “an attendant refused to fly and could not be replaced.”
Another user claiming to be the woman whose hair was grabbed in the video commented, as noted by The Daily Mail, writing, “The man was having a psychotic episode, banged his head multiple times on the back of my seat, shortly lost consciousness, regained consciousness and grabbed my hair close to the scalp.”
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“Had I leaned forward with him grabbing my hair, he could have pulled my hair out,” she continued. “I was afraid this man was going to punch me in the head and I am thankful for the FA and other passengers who stepped in to help.”
Alaska Airlines confirmed the veracity of the incident to the New York Post, commending the flight attendant’s quick response to a potentially dangerous situation.
“He appeared to be experiencing a violent medical episode that involved an ongoing physical assault against other passengers and our crew,” the airline said in a statement.
“Our flight attendants’ highest responsibility is the safety of guests and crew on board,” the statement continued. “Our crew responded to this chaotic situation quickly and kept all guests safe until law enforcement could intervene.”
As for the unruly passenger, Alaska said he’s “been from Alaska and Horizon due to the nature of the physical assault.”
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