Man Assaults Woman on Plane, Gets Punched by Flight Attendant

People seem to be flying off the handle on planes lately…

A recent Alaska Airlines flight devolved into chaos when a male passenger grabbed the hair of the woman in front of him before takeoff. In a desperate attempt to get him to release the woman, a male flight attendant repeatedly struck the man until he let go. The video was shared on X, but watch it at your own discretion. 

“Let go of her hair!” someone shouted as the flight attendant tried breaking the man’s grip.

It’s unclear why the man targeted the female passenger in the first place, but some believe he was experiencing some sort of medical episode. 

The person who shared the video also recounted the incident in a series of statements on X:

“We were about to take off from OAK to PDX but this dude started saying weird stuff and rocking back and forth,” the user said. “A flight attendant was called then he grabbed the woman’s hair in front of him and wouldn’t let go so the flight attendant started punching him in the throat.” 

Once the man released the woman’s hair, she escaped into the aisle to get away from him.

“He was restrained for several minutes before being arrested,” the X user continued. “The flight was canceled after an attendant refused to fly and could not be replaced.”

Someone said the man was allegedly “an alcoholic on five medications before he started repeating himself and glitching out,” per the series of X posts. 

“He appeared to be experiencing a violent medical episode that involved an ongoing physical assault against other passengers and our crew,” Alaska Airlines confirmed in a statement. “Our flight attendants’ highest responsibility is the safety of guests and crew on board. Our crew responded to this chaotic situation quickly and kept all guests safe until law enforcement could intervene.”

As for the man, well, he has since been taken into police custody and is now banned from Alaska Airlines.