- A viral TikTok video shows a woman duct-taped to her chair on an American Airlines flight.
- According to the passenger who filmed the incident, the woman tried to exit the plane mid-flight.
- The passenger who filmed the video criticized American Airlines for how they handled the situation.
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A TikTok video shows a woman duct-taped to her seat on an American Airlines flight after she reportedly attacked flight attendants and attempted to open the plane’s front door.
The incident happened on American Airlines Flight 1774 that was traveling from Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas to Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday.
In the video, filmed by TikTok user @lol.ariee, an unidentified woman in first class can be seen with duct tape around her body and mouth as she attempts to scream at passengers who are departing the plane after it landed.
In a follow-up video, @lol.ariee explained that the commotion started one hour into the two-hour flight when “all flight attendants were running up and down the aisles, frantically kind of like whispering to each other.”
The crew began locking bathrooms, and started grabbing bags from overhead bins, but wouldn’t say what exactly was happening, @lol.ariee said.
“It was just kind of like chaos and no one knows what’s going on,” she continued.
The pilot finally spoke over the intercom and asked people to stay in their seats because of “a bad situation in the plane,” though he did not elaborate further, according to @lol.ariee.
As the plane was landing, a flight attendant who sat near the passengers explained that a woman who was going through an apparent mental breakdown, “had an outburst” and attempted to get off the plane.
“She was saying, ‘I need to get off this plane,’ and she went up to the exits and started banging on the doors, saying, ‘You need to let me off this plane!'” @lol.ariee said.
The woman reportedly got aggressive, biting, spitting, and attacking flight attendants, @lol.ariee said, which is what ultimately prompted the crew to “take her down” and duct tape her mouth.
The video, which has been viewed more than 4 million times, shows a police officer and medical personnel waiting by the plane’s entrance as other passengers walk out upon landing.
Watch the full clip below:
American Airlines confirmed to the New York Post that a woman “attempted to open the forward boarding door” during the flight and was restrained “for the safety and security of other customers and our crew.”
Insider reached out to American Airlines for additional comment.
TikTok user @lol.ariee said in the follow-up video that she believed that “what was happening seemed like it was beyond the woman’s control. She was scared.”
“They should have a better way of going about it…I feel like it was handled poorly,” she added.
Since January 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration has received 2,500 reports of unruly behavior by passengers, most of which involve travelers refusing to comply with the federal mask mandate.