Woman Duct-Taped To Seat After Attempting To Open Plane’s Door Mid-Flight

Jul 12, 2021 by apost team

It's common for people to have a fear of flying, but even those with the most intense flying anxiety tend to just stay in their seats until the flight lands. However, when one woman had a mental breakdown on an American Airlines flight from Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, to Charlotte, North Carolina, on July 6, 2021, the situation escalated beyond anyone's imagination.

After the passenger attempted to open the forward boarding door, the American Airlines crew decided to take matters into their own hands to restrain the passenger. The 'mental breakdown' occurred at around 1:30 AM; the crew began by frantically running up and down the aircraft's aisles, securing the premises, and locking the bathroom doors.

The crew is now being criticized for their methods after they opted to restrain the woman with duct tape to her seat for the remainder of the flight. They were reacting to a woman who appeared to be in a state of mental crisis during the flight. According to TMZ, it took five flight attendants in total to restrain the woman after she attempted to exit the plane after it was in the air for about one hour.

However, their choice to restrain the woman with duct tape has caused quite the controversy online after it was recorded by another passenger who uploaded it to their TikTok account. Public opinion is torn on whether the method of restraint was too harsh or if it was necessary in order to keep the rest of the passengers on the flight safe. 

Read on to learn more about the incident and what happened to the woman after the flight landed in North Carolina. 

According to the New York Post, the footage of the incident was uploaded by TikToker and fellow passenger Arieana Mathena to her account @lol.ariee. However, the account can no longer be found on the official TikTok website. According to the New York Post, the flight lasted for a total of two hours but was delayed for three hours before departing at around midnight. When the grey-haired woman started to have a mental breakdown, Mathena said the scene "was just kind of like chaos and no one knows what's going on."

A representative of American Airlines gave a statement to TMZ on the incident:

"While in flight from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Charlotte (CLT) on July 6, the crew on board American Airlines flight 1774 reported a potential security concern after a customer attempted to open the forward boarding door and physically assaulted, bit and caused injury to a flight attendant. For the safety and security of other customers and our crew, the individual was restrained until the flight landed at CLT and could. be met by law enforcement and emergency personnel."

According to Unilad, the TikToker, like many other people, criticized the crew's choice to duct tape the woman to her seat, including her mouth. TikToker Mathena said:

"They should have a better way of going about it…I feel like it was handled poorly. What was happening seemed like it was beyond the woman's control. She was scared."

The woman was met with emergency personnel as she exited the aircraft, according to the New York Post. It has also been reported that the woman was placed on American Airline's internal "no fly" list until further investigation on the incident could be done.

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What do you think about the situation? Do you agree with the flight crew's choice, or do you think they were too harsh? Let us know your thoughts, and be sure to pass this on to others.