Spin-off, have you been on flights that had passengers removed?

[NHdisneylover]

I am just wondering how common it is and when it has happened what has been the reason (if you know).

I have had one flight return to the gate after being at the runway to remove to drunk men. Police boarded and took them off. Their sober friend was in a quandary about whether to stay with them or not. He was told it was his choice but the airline was not responsible for providing him a another ticket at no cost or accommodations in the interim-he opted to let his idiot friends navigate the justice system in Puerto Vallarta on their own. (obviously we were seated very near this group).

I only know of two other "almost" incidents n flights, but there may be many more I miss not being right next to the situations. In one case a little boy (maybe about 3) was flying with his mother and sister. Mom refused to tell the child he had to wear a seat belt, or sit down etc. She was from some middle east country and kept saying it was not her place to tell a male what to do. The pilot came out and told her and the child they follow all flight crew instructions or the plane goes back and they get off. Pilot was male and the boy sat for him. After that, the couple of times there were issues, the male passenger sitting nearby told the kid to knock it off and he listened. I have known lots of people from the middle east and never known another mother to take this approach with a male child, it was weird.

The other was a trans Atlantic flight with a very drunk and somewhat unruly man onboard. The others in his row asked to be moved and were moved up to the only empty seats, in first class. There were no more left for us poor folks across the aisle, lol I heard flight crew discussing if we should land in NY and remove him, and that included talk of timing out and then everyone having to wait for a new crew, etc. I wanted to get to WDW on time, so I took a chance and sat by him and engaged him in conversation when I got back from the bathroom (I felt safe, DH was right there across the aisle). i was able to keep him calm enough to stay buckled and not super loud and we finished our flight and crew actually thanked me on debarking.

So that is 2 incidents with drunk adults and one with a bratty child (with no apparent or claimed disability) out of probably 100 flights or more.

 

[DopeyDame]

We had one almost-incident. We were on a flight to San Francisco - our first leg of our honeymoon trip to Hawaii. The woman across the aisle from us had a dog. She was also very drunk (and high, I think - she was definitely out of it in a way I haven't usually seen in drunk people) When she boarded the dog was fine - a tiny dog in a container under the seat. About half way through the flight, she let the dog out of his crate. No leash, no constraints, nothing. The dog was wandering up and down the aisles. The FAs obviously told her the dog had to be constrained. She was super apologetic and compliant - for about 5 minutes. Then she put the leash on the dog and tied him to the arm rest and she went to the bathroom, leaving the dog to hang out in the aisle again. Not cool. We continued on the way to San Francisco and landed as scheduled, but when we landed we were all asked to stay in our seats, and the police came and took the lady off the plane. We saw her later on as we were walking to baggage claim. She was in handcuffs screaming that the airline stole her dog.

Other than that, nothing too exciting has happened on my flights.

 

[barkley]

no flights-once on a multi state train trip (local p/d were called and came on board to remove once we hit their jurisdiction-we were out in the middle of nowhere), and a VERY close to once on a Disney Cruise.

 

[PlutoPony]

Think my husband may have just missed that kind of adventure last week. He was on a flight and a person catty corner across from him was wringing her hands and kept muttering "I can't do it" as the plane taxied out. Her companion repeatedly told her she'd be fine when she got in the air but that didn't make any impression on her. When they go out to the main runway and were ready to take off, the FA caught wind of it and talked to the woman. In the end they taxied BACK to the gate and offloaded her and companion. Cost them a good half hour of time. Flight was oversold by 4 and some were IDB'd, too bad she didn't change her mind in the terminal.

 

[asta]

Several years ago I was on a plane that made a normal landing but after landing someone came over the intercom and told everyone to stay in our seats until someone named Peter left the plane. No other explanation and I thought it was very odd that they used this guy's name. A teenaged looking guy came from the back of the plane and walked off. Looking back I can see that this guy might have been autistic and they wanted to make sure he left without an incident.

 

[DopeyDame]

Several years ago I was on a plane that made a normal landing but after landing someone came over the intercom and told everyone to stay in our seats until someone named Peter left the plane. No other explanation and I thought it was very odd that they used this guy's name. A teenaged looking guy came from the back of the plane and walked off. Looking back I can see that this guy might have been autistic and they wanted to make sure he left without an incident.

He actually could have just been an unaccompanied minor. You can pay for that service even if the kid is over 12. Usually they have the UMs stay seated until everyone else is off, but he may have had a short connection, they may have been short staffed at the airport and needed to get him quickly so they could go meet another plane, or a bunch of other pretty mundane reasons.

 

[barkley]

Several years ago I was on a plane that made a normal landing but after landing someone came over the intercom and told everyone to stay in our seats until someone named Peter left the plane. No other explanation and I thought it was very odd that they used this guy's name. A teenaged looking guy came from the back of the plane and walked off. Looking back I can see that this guy might have been autistic and they wanted to make sure he left without an incident.

might have been someone w/ connecting flight they had to get to QUICK. I was on a flight that was delayed at the gate such that I was concerned might cause problems w/a connection. I asked the f/a about it so she went to confer w/the pilot. f/a came back and told me not to worry about it. when we got to the point where we were about to land there was an overhead announcement that asked all passengers to please remain seated until 4 other passengers disembarked first (then our first names were read off).

in our experience w/ asd son while we might be availed to pre-boarding, we have to wait our turn like everyone else in leaving the plane.

 

[Lynne M]

Just once, it was more than 10 years ago. There was a group of teenaged girls on the plane with several adult chaperones, and one of the girls was having an asthma attack during boarding. Not an OMG-get-to-the-ER-now attack, but she was wheezing and using her inhaler. The flight attendant kept checking on her, and finally got the captain. He talked to the girl and the chaperones, and then called for a doctor to check her out.

I felt so bad for the girl, all of the attention was really stressing her out and that was making her breathing worse. She got very upset when she realized they were talking about putting her off the plane, she didn't want to be separated from the group, even though the chaperones kept reassuring her that she wouldn't be left alone, one of them would stay with her. The doctor came and checked her out and said as much, that the stress and fear was making her worse, but in the end the captain had her taken off the plane.

 

[SMD]

I was on a flight with a high school trip. Apparently a student lost her passport on the connection and we had to go back to the gate so they could take a chaperone off to stay with her in the terminal. They had to bring police or customs officers (not sure, this wasn't in the US) to force a chaperone to get off the plane because they were debating amongst themselves who should stay and who should continue with the rest of the kids.

 

[LisaR]

I had one. We pushed back from the gate and started heading toward the runway and then came right back to the gate. We weren't told anything. Three very armed officers came on and grabbed the guy sitting in the seat right across from me! No clue what happened. He went peacefully, but he did have a huge grin on his face as they were coming down the aisle and had already unbuckled. He seemed to know they were coming for him. They hauled him off, shut the doors, and we were on our way.

 

[asta]

I had one. We pushed back from the gate and started heading toward the runway and then came right back to the gate. We weren't told anything. Three very armed officers came on and grabbed the guy sitting in the seat right across from me! No clue what happened. He went peacefully, but he did have a huge grin on his face as they were coming down the aisle and had already unbuckled. He seemed to know they were coming for him. They hauled him off, shut the doors, and we were on our way.

Scary!

 

[goofy4tink]

Last Nov. I was flying out of Worcester Mass.....small airport that has issues with weather. Only Jetblue uses this airport for passengers right now. Our flight was supposed to depart at 7:20. We had received an email, as well as a phone call, before midnight, that our flight would be departing from Boston, due to fog. We were told we could go to Worcester and be bussed to Boston, or go directly to Boston. My dh was dropping me off and had to go right to a meeting, so I opted for Worcester. But....we couldn't get on buses until 7:20, just in case there were passengers that didn't get the email/phone message. So, we didn't get to Logan until about 8:45. We were boarded very quickly. However....those that opted to go directly to Boston had been there, ready to go, since 6:00, and on the plane, waiting for us, since 7:30!

The man behind us was going on and on about how his family was now losing a very expensive day in the parks. He was really abusive. Well, about 3 mins after I sat down, boarding was halted, state troopers were brought on the plane. They escorted the entire family off the plane! His wife and three kids were not happy! The wife kept telling him to just shut up or they wouldn't get on any plane. He ranted and raved all the way off the plane. Yes, we took off about 90 mins late. Anyone who flies out of Worcester knows, or should, that flights are diverted all the time.

 

[JoeA]

i was able to keep him calm enough to stay buckled and not super loud and we finished our flight and crew actually thanked me on debarking.

We had one almost-incident. We were on a flight to San Francisco - our first leg of our honeymoon trip to Hawaii. The woman across the aisle from us had a dog. .

Were you two on the same flight!

 

[JoeA]

I have flown over 1M paid miles on United (domestic and international flights) and probably another 250K + on un-paid flights or other airlines and I have never seen anything like that! And now I can't wait for my next flight because I am sure I just jinxed myself!!

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

We were on a flight from LAX to Sydney and saw a man get removed for being drunk before we ever left the gate, he wasn't disruptive so he must have said something to one of the gate agents while boarding that got him removed...worked to our advantage though as our family was on the upgrade list for business class, all of us had been upgraded except my son, I immediately asked them to check the list as he was next up to be upgraded...he was back there pouting in economy when he was told to move up to business If he wouldn't have gotten upgraded I would have traded seats with him half way though the flight though...that flight is brutal in economy.

 

[galaxygirl76]

I remember one flight, I think we were going to Greece, and there was a kid(older teen/young adult) who at the last moment decided that he wasn't going to fly after all. We were stuck for a while because they had to find his luggage.

 

[Stitchypoo626]

This was my first ever flight and I was only 3 years old so I am going from the story my parents and older sister tell me. We were headed on vacation to the Bahamas and there was this lady that must have been drinking before getting on the plane and then as the plane took off she continued to order drinks. She began to get really drunk according to my parents and very loud and using foul language. The Flight Attendants told her she was not going to be allowed to have anymore drinks which did not go over very well with her. She got louder. It got so bad that the Assistant Pilot came back and told here in what my parent told me was in a very forceful tone that if she didn't calm down and just sit in her sit the rest of the flight and be quiet the Pilot would be force to make an emergency stop and would escort her off at that spot. After that my parents said they didn't here another word from the women. I do not remember the situation at all. I guess I was too occupied coloring in my coloring book.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Close once. Flight delays due to weather. I was supposed to be on a connecting flight with the first leg departing around 2. That plane was delayed (in NY) with an expected arrival at Logan after the connection would depart.
I got moved to the 8:30ish nonstop. Talked to a nice couple in the terminal, he'd been drinking much more than she. He was getting loud and obnoxious and she kept trying to calm him. I preboard, so the whole time I was sitting on the plane watching for them, but dreading him onboard. Apparently he drew enough attention after I got on the plane. They never boarded and we took off more or less on time.