American Airlines passenger fined for spitting on kite, opening emergency exit and jumping on slide

An American Airlines passenger is paying $42,128 in refunds after an outburst in which she spat on a fellow pilot, opened the emergency exit and jumped off the slide.

Cynthia McKnight, 24 of Sacramento, has been sentenced to prison and three months’ probation after pleading guilty to two counts of simple assault.

According to court documents, she became “furious” after staff asked her to put her phone away as the plane was preparing to take off, on a flight from Buffalo to Chicago last April.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York said Friday that she “engaged in a verbal altercation with one passenger and then spat on another.”

When the plane was forced to return to the gate, McKnight allegedly opened the emergency door and jumped off the inflatable slide onto the tarmac.

Officials said last year she managed to get over the open main entrance, causing the inflatable slide to automatically activate, after which she jumped down.

When she noticed a fellow pilot filming her, she became agitated and spat at them. said the statement.

McKnight agreed to pay $42,128 in restitution as part of her sentencing and plea to the incident on American Eagle Flight 3933 on April 19.

She was quickly caught and taken into custody, telling officials she had been drinking.

A contemporary statement from American Airlines read: “The individual was quickly apprehended by local law enforcement and has been placed on American’s internal trash list pending further investigation.

“We thank our team members for their professionalism and action to ensure the safety of our customers and crew.”

Spencer Brown, offensive tackle for the Buffalo Bills, was aboard the flight.

He tweeted the commotion, to write: ‘Sitting in an airplane. A lady is p***ed. Lady pulls the inflatable emergency slide to escape the plane. Lady is currently running wildly through the asphalt. The police have arrived. Flight ruined. Memories made.’

The flight was taken out of service after the incident and the 65 passengers on board received replacement transportation to Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

Since the pandemic, the number of reported cases of ‘air rage’ has skyrocketed.

A normal year could have produced 100 to 150 reports, according to CNBCbut in 2021 there were 5,700.

Mask compliance has been a major cause of conflict and frustration as lockdown rules eased.

Alcohol also appears to be a common factor in abuse, with airlines including American Airlines imposing new restrictions on consumption in recent years.

The trend has been reported worldwide; in the UK, air raid incidents tripled between 2022 and 2019.

According to a new report, the number of incidents involving unruly passengers on flights in 2022 worldwide will increase by almost 50 percent from the previous year.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) collected data on one incident for every 568 flights in 2022 compared to one incident for every 835 flights in 2021 – an increase of about 47 percent.

Failure to comply with flight crew instructions, verbal abuse and drunkenness were responsible for the three most common incidents, IATA recorded.

Image shows emergency door open and slide deployed after McKnight’s eruption

In March, an American Airlines passenger was arrested after “urinating” on a fellow passenger.

Aryan Vohra was arrested and barred from future flights following the incident on a flight from New York to New Delhi.

In January, a vice president of banking giant Wells Fargo was fired after he was accused of urinating on a 72-year-old woman while traveling between New York City and Mumbai.