American Airlines flight forced to make emergency landing after passenger exposes himself and urinates in aisle
An American Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing after an unruly passenger exposed himself and then urinated in the aisle of the plane.
The perpetrator, a 25-year-old Oregon man whose name has not been released, was arrested after the plane changed course on Wednesday and returned to Buffalo, New York.
He was charged with indecent exposure and was released after appearing in federal court in Buffalo, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York said.
The passenger reportedly told police he had consumed several glasses of whiskey and coke before boarding his first flight from Oregon, and that he continued to drink heavily during a layover in Chicago.
An American Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Buffalo, New York, after an unruly passenger reportedly exposed himself before urinating in the aisle of the plane
American Airlines reported after the indecent incident that the plane was able to continue its flight from Buffalo after the passenger was removed.
“We thank our team members for their professionalism and our customers for their understanding,” the airline said in a statement.
According to the reported criminal complaint, the passenger stated that he got up to go to the plane’s toilet when the problem occurred.
He said that when he returned to his seat he experienced a “medical urinary problem.”
The travel chaos came as millions of Americans prepared to celebrate the Fourth of July. Some 32 million people traveled across the country this week to be with family and loved ones.
It happened on the same day that a Delta Airlines plane had to make an emergency landing after dozens of passengers were served spoiled food.
Delta Flight 136 was en route from Detroit, Michigan to the Netherlands when the plane was diverted to JFK Airport early Wednesday morning after it was discovered that part of the meal on board was spoiled, a Delta spokesperson told DailyMail.com.
On the same day as the American Airlines emergency landing, a Delta Airlines flight bound for Amsterdam was diverted to JFK Airport in New York City after it was discovered that passengers were served “contaminated food” during the in-flight meal service
An apparently frustrated passenger on the plane took to social media to wonder how the airline was going to “get him to Amsterdam today” after they had to divert the plane “because you served passengers ‘contaminated’ food.”
Delta apologized for the “inconvenience and delay” the incident caused.
“Medical teams were on site to attend to the aircraft and treat all affected passengers and crew,” the airline said in a statement.
“Delta teams are immediately working to gather information about how this incident occurred. This is not the service Delta is known for and we sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and delays to their travels.”
The airline has reportedly discontinued some meals on its flights following the incident.