This is the chaotic moment a belligerent American Airlines passenger was put in a headlock and dragged out by a fellow flyer before takeoff.
The disruptive male passenger was removed from flight 2506 that was set to fly from Tampa International Airport to Philadelphia on Tuesday.
During the outburst, which caused a 30-minute delay, the man yelled an anti-Semitic slur at a flight attendant and seemed to threaten another passenger.
In a statement, American Airline told DailyMail.com: ‘Prior to departure of American Airlines flight 2506 with service from Tampa (TPA) to Philadelphia (PHL), law enforcement was requested to the aircraft due to a disturbance in the cabin involving a disruptive customer.
‘We thank our team for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.’
Tampa International Airport Police did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
Video of the altercation, which was posted in three parts on X (formally known as Twitter), showed the moments leading up to the man being escorted off the plane.
It begins with the man, dressed in a white and blue button-down shirt, standing in the middle of the aisle as fellow passengers look on.
‘I will universally, publicly, mess you up,’ he says before he turns to face a male flight attendant.
‘Get off the plane,’ a female says in the background.
Female passengers start to discuss if the man brought a bag on board or not, as he continues to argue with the airline employee.
He then moves into a window seat nearby and sits down as a female flight attendant says:,’Do you have a bag or anything you want to grab before you get off?’
The irate passenger replies, ‘Uh, y’all attack me with two individuals against one?’
The male flight attendant then speaks to another passenger sitting behind him as the angry man says that he ‘didn’t hit anyone.’
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s OK raising my voice to a female? I’ll see about it with you k***,’ he says.
The flight attendant then looks back at him and says, ‘What?’
As surprised passengers look on, the passenger carries on and says, ‘You as a k*** human.’
‘And it’s because I’m sitting down, and I’m lower than you?’
He says: ‘You wanna be a tough guy, bruh?’
He then turns to a female onboard and says, ‘I’m moving, I’m moving, and you know what?’
‘You’re teaming up. Do you see how most of the people are white here? Yeah, yeah so you were like “ahhhhh.”‘
As annoyed passengers start to interact with him while the plane sits on the runway, the man continues and says: ‘I’m trying to get to my home country and you all people made it harder for me to get to my home country!’
A woman then replies to him and says: ‘We don’t know where you’re going!’
‘I’m telling you, I’m telling you,’ he says and he points is finger at other passengers.
He then says: ‘No,no,no,no,’ and pats the head of the man behind him referring to him as the ‘white-haired guy.’
In the third part of the video, the man continues to blurt out as a white male passenger, dressed in a dark blue hoodie and baseball hat, comes up to the unruly flyer and tries to control the situation.
‘Let me see you up front, cuz,’ the passenger says to the man in blue.
‘Sir, sir,’ a female flight attendant says.
‘Come to the front cuz,’ the passenger in the hat says to the rowdy man as he directs him out of his seat.
‘Let me see the big guy,’ he says as he steps out of the seat and into the aisle with the man in blue.
As the belligerent man steps out, he appears to threateningly place his face right in front of the man in blue, who says: ‘Aye, if you put your hands-‘
‘Hey, I didn’t get in your face, you told me to get out,’ he replies.
The man in blue, who approaches him the unruly passenger, seems to gesture in his face with his hand to tell the disruptive man to back up as the angry passenger waves a paper around and tells the flight attendant that he has a ticket.
The belligerent passenger then turns back around after the man in blue taps him on the back and says, ‘Let’s go!’
‘Aye, aye, you touch me, fool,’ the disruptive man says to the fellow flyer in the aisle as he squares up his arms.
The female employee then pulls out a walkie-talkie and says ‘311’ as the two men start to shove each other in the middle of the aisle.
As they stumble around, they fall into other passengers in the aisle as others sitting pull out their phone and film the chaotic scene.
The flight attendant then calls for help again as the man in the hat takes the irate passenger and puts him in a headlock.
‘You got it, cuz? Do you got it? Now, put your hands down and don’t touch anybody,’ the passenger in blue screams at him as his face turns bright red.
Out of the corner of the frame, a female, dressed in a gray Ron Jon Surf Shop shirt and a backward orange hat intervenes.
She places her hand on the man holding the other in a chokehold and says, ‘I’m a police officer.’
‘So am I,’ he replies.
‘I’m right here, look, look, I’m right here,’ she says in an attempt to deescalate the situation.
The man then asks the now-quiet passenger, ‘You gonna walk or you gonna be nice?’
He then screams and tells the man to walk and lets go of his neck before grabbing it again and shoving him forward.
With the other man’s hand over his mouth, the unruly passenger says: ‘I’m schizophrenic.’
‘So am I, walk,’ the passenger holding him says.
He is then escorted off the plane by the man as a group of passengers follow behind.
Another man with a tattoo sleeve on his arms and glasses is seen pinching him by the back of his neck as the other pushes forward.
‘I’ve never seen this,’ the female flight attendant says.
It is unclear if anyone was arrested or injured during the incident.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
