A Delta Air Lines flight's unruly passenger shows how we apply frontier justice in the skies

They need a D.B. Cooper door for these "humans"

Vigilantism is illegal and a crime, because it is viewed as arming yourself with a lethal weapon or weapons, and carrying out an act of revenge, with a severe outcome for the wrongdoer, way out of proportion to the crime committed.
But a citizens arrest is legal in every country, and passengers stopping an out-of-control airline passenger from going beserk, and restraining them, is not vigilantism.
Maybe the article writer needs to refer to a good dictionary before they get carried away with hype?

Take them down then put them on a no fly list. The End. If you are willing to put an entire aircraft at its passengers and crew at risk, ADIOS. Take a bus.

What a stupid "click bait" article. This is what passes for "journalism" these days? I mean frontier justice, gimme a freakin' break already. We're not talking about rounding up a posse to go after cattle rustlers here. Stopping someone from physically attacking passengers or crew or otherwise threatening the safety of an aircraft is not "justice", it's controlling a dangerous situation. And now the people that offer to help are classified as vigilantes? What a tool bag.

As a retired Captain, I agree there is no place for a unruly passenger in the air. However in todays environment the airlines and flight crew (and the gov. mandate) have to take some responsibility for what is happening. I was on a flight the other day when a mother with a small child in her arms with all the things that it takes to take care of that child. He had pulled down his mask and the flight attendant didn't ask politely for the mother to pull up his mask she actually starting YELLING at the the mother, instead of helping her. To the point she started yelling for the captain. I was embarrassed for the woman. My question to everyone is, if you walk past a skunk, can you smell it with a mask on?

As a retired airline captain and former USAF pilot, I can say with all authority and reality, that the man or woman sitting in the left seat, carries with him or her an immense responsibility, that being insuring the passengers aboard that flight arrive safely. If the Pilot in Command asks for assistance, then that becomes the law ( though it is not required that any passenger respond). The passengers aboard UAL 93 did what they had to do and we will never know how many lives they saved that day at the willing sacrifice of their own. I read nearly every post here and I was saddened to find references to George Floyd. His death was extremely saddening at the very least. However, this issue has nothing to do with Mr. Floyd or any other high profile situation in the news. The term vigilante means nothing more than regular citizens taking the law into their own hands (which CAN result in further problems) I agree; however, that’s not what we are talking about here. Ever since UAL 93, it has been common practice for passengers to come to the aid of Flight Attendants, and Flight Crew alike. Minus the presence of a TSA Air Marshal, the PIC does not have a “law enforcement presence”; therefore, requesting assistance from the passengers is completely within his or her right.

Every airline has a Contract of Carriage; all passengers should read this; it will prevent needless issues post flight.

There is also no room for overly abusive cabin crew as well, though this IS the exception and not the rule.

So….let’s leave the hyperbole, and other unnecessary language out of the conversation and remember the people aboard any flight; all they want is to arrive at their destination as would anyone reading this. Common sense and fact-based reality must rule the day.

File this under "what could possibly go wrong?" If we have, indeed, turned into a nation of lawless thugs, air marshals on flights need to become a serious probability instead of just an off-chance. I'd certainly see it as a good use of my tax dollars.

As a pilot I am responsible for the safe outcome of the flight.
In this case, what does that mean?
The FAA is typical in its ambiguity and they would likely think a pilot "shooting" an unruly passenger is going too far. Or, would they?
"Yes" and "No", it all depends, as lawyers tend to say.
The problem is lawyers think they have the solution in any "after the fact" opinion.
Then there's the court of public opinion as witnessed by the press.
It's tough and I don't know what I would do with an unruly passenger but being former Army I tend to the disciplinarian mindset.
The FAA having "strong penalties" or any other "after-the-fact" penalty is not much of a deterrence to a mentally incapacitated or stressed person. They have lost the capacity to weigh/balance actions with consequences - by definition.
I think I favor the "strong male passenger" approach as minimizing collateral damage but by definition there could easily be collateral damage in any use of force - lethal or non-lethal.

Terrible article. Says very little about the incident itself, then happily moralizes for several boring paragraphs. Clickbait indeed.

Is the unruly passenger problem primarily in the USA? Or happening everywhere?

I believe the last issue on Delta was an Employee Flight Attendent, lets get the Facts, just the Facts, maybe an intervention from Delta, for one of their own is in order.

While the opinion writer may have some good points, he blows it with the hyperbole of passengers being vigilantes.

The way certain individuals and all of the media justify criminal behavior has become the norm. Civility, law and order and respect for others is a thing of the past.

The problem here is that people often do not know what the dispute started over. I disagree with people being disrespectful to flight crew or other passengers but we have also seen airlines physically de board passengers when the airline overbooked.when we start using mob justice we must be careful who we sick the mob on.
That being said if someone is acting disrespectful to crew or other passengers I will not hesitate to politely ask them to stop acting up. My physical size is usually enough to defuse the situation.

Were is Marshall Dillon when you need him? Get the unruly passenger out of Dodge.

I recall several years in the aftermath of 9/11 when I (in good enough shape) and a lot of other strong male flyers looked over other passengers and mentally readied themselves to help crew in the event. Somebody has to have legitimate quasi-police authority to act and "deputize" willing assistance - obviously the captain and in this episode he did. It might be some of that should be more clearly formalized in policy and crew training, but I wouldn't define it as rogue vigilantism.

this offending passenger was not evaluated in advance as to political, religious or any other set of beliefs, but evaluated on the spot as a threat to the rest of the folks on the flight by actions alone. As such, those actions taken for the greater survival stand any test in any court, legal or court of public opinion.

They should have a bouncer on airplanes. When a customer gets too rowdy just throw him out the door.

It’s the mask Stupid! Lack of O2 and too much rebreathing CO2, not to mention all the bacteria build up in that nasty face diaper!

Typical news tripe from a news challenged organization.

Stupid article by woke 'journalist'!

Free handouts and cheaper air fares allows these folks to travel on an airliner. These people used to ride the bus, maybe that is where they need to be.

“Artistic license”

I’ve been very vigilant when flying. I watch other pax when moving about the cabin. A few years ago I started packing wire wraps in my backpack so in case of an incident I have restraints handy.

If people did this during 9-11, 9-11 would not have happened. And because of 9-11, people are not going to take this crap anymore.

Someone else has said the job of the police is to not only protect the public from criminals but to protect criminals from the public. So, when there are no police...

Unruly and disruptive behavior has been encouraged by a certain politician and shows up in all walks of life in the USA. As this voice becomes a non-entity, a calmer, more civilized society will follow.

ban the sale of booze on planes & at airports

When I buy a ticket from Delta, I enter into a Contract of Carriage with them. I am not a lawyer, but I think that might be *kind of* important. I do not claim to understand it all, either. The writer talks about social contract, but nothing about Contract of Carriage.

In informal, forum discussion, the contract usually gets dismissed and overlooked, but in a court of law, it would be central to its proceedings. Delta's Contract of Carriage is 11,000+ words long, but none of the forum comments here address which part of their Contract of Carriage was breached. Keep in mind, too, that every airline's Contract of Carriage is different.

NB: Things are considerably more complicated than most of the forum's comments imply.

Contract of Carriage is agreed upon with every ticket purchase, then it summarily gets dismissed. Then conversation and intelligent discussion about issues governed by that contract continues without its being considered. That's not productive, not logical, not fruitful, and not good. It's not right to ignore 11K words of an agreement, then to try to have intelligent discussions about what's right or wrong, legal or illegal, permitted or not about everyone's interactions that are legally bound by that agreement.

This is more complex than it's being treated.

Mask mandates on airline flights should stop immediately. These have absolutely nothing to do with the security of an airplane. The rationale for this mandate has been proven time and again as unnecessary and in fact damaging to the health of the wearer. If a passenger wishes to wear a mask that is fine but for the majority of passengers the mask is an unnecessary burden as well as an unlawful edict impinging on the freedom of the citizen. I refuse to fly because of it. As far as I am concerned I never want to fly again. Flying is stressful enough as it is and the addition of the mask is nothing more than excessive abuse of the passenger.

The introduction of the mask mandate on flights may be the straw that broke the camel's back. For some time passengers have taken abuse from the government mandates whenever they flew. Preflight screening has gradually increased to the point where passengers must nearly undress in order to fly to their destination. Shoes must be taken off and examined by TSA personnel who also must wand or utilize full medal detectors and private more inclusive screening and examination. Passengers have seen their liberties increasingly be violated in order that they may fly with an airline. In the absence of profiling, which by the way has been an effective method of screening potential problematic passengers, the only thing left for the airlines to do is increased physical screening. Now add to this the insane mandate that all passengers must wear a mask in the airport, during flight and on exiting the airport, and you have a potential flash point for many passengers who have basically been 'tipped' over the edge. How much further can these arbitrary mandates go? Leave it to the democrat controlled government to imagine more and further restrictions on our freedom. I read an article the other day where Pete Buttigieg said he was not ready to do away with the mask mandate due to the mix of travelers using the airlines. C'mon Pete, get over your power trip man!! (A little Joe Biden phraseology!!)

On a tangentially related topic...
What happened on this flight is clear evidence that the "Fluffy Doe" (FFDO) program is completely unnecessary. Passengers and locked cabin doors are all that is needed to protect from cockpit intrusions. Yes, I understand there was no cockpit intrusion in this case; the evidence I'm referring to is that passengers are the safety mechanism, not some "wannabe cop" pilot who thinks they need guns in the world's smallest office behind a locked door.