Bad behavior among airline passengers is unfortunately not too uncommon these days, when it seems like every other day there are headlines surfacing about unruly travelers. But while many of these stories involve passengers getting into altercations with airline crew or attacking one another, a recent incident filmed aboard a United Airlines flight showed a man violently attacking his seat, of all things.
According to South West News Service, the incident took place aboard a flight from Austin, TX to Los Angeles, CA on Nov. 16. In the video, below, the unnamed man can be seen repeatedly kicking his reclined seat, as other passengers watched the bizarre behavior, clearly in shock.
The clip was recorded by San Diego-based addiction counselor Gino Galofaro, who said that he had been sleeping and was awoken by the commotion.
"I woke up to him kicking the seat. The flight attendant walked by a couple times, nobody was doing anything," Galofaro recalled. "I restrained him and two other passengers were already getting zip ties so we zip tied his hands and feet and seat belted him to the seat."
Galofaro noted that the flight was about 40 minutes from touching down in Los Angeles when the man began acting out, and that police came onboard when the plane landed. He added that he hopes to be in touch with the man's family to see if he can offer any help.
United Airlines confirmed that there had been 76 passengers and with five crew members aboard the flight at the time.
"On Nov. 16, local law enforcement met United flight 502 upon arrival at Los Angeles International Airport after a customer became disruptive," a spokesperson said. "We thank our crew for helping address the situation and working to ensure the safety of everyone on board. We’ve banned this customer from future United flights."
