Flight to LA diverted to Dallas because of ‘unruly passenger’

Airlines have reported record number of incidents on planes in 2021

A Delta Air Lines flight was diverted to Dallas after a “customer disturbance” onboard the plane, according to the company.

The incident took place on Delta flight 365 that took off from Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on its way to Los Angeles.

“Situations like these are rare and regrettable for the vast majority of our customers and Delta has zero tolerance for unruly behavior at our airports and aboard our aircraft,” Delta said in a statement about the Monday incident.

“We applaud our flight crew’s quick decision to divert and address the situation as expeditiously as possible so the remainder of our customers can resume their travels.”

The airline did not give any details on exactly what happened during the incident.

Bill Moseley, an actor who was on board the flight, took to Twitter to post about an “unruly passenger”.

“Ah, the unfriendly skies!” He tweeted with a picture of a police officer onboard.

The incident comes amid a record rise in the number of incidents involving unruly passengers onboard US flights in 2021, the vast majority of which are caused by mask-wearing issues.

The Federal Aviation Administration adopted a zero-tolerance policy for unruly passengers on board flights earlier this year.

The FAA said in August it had issued more than $1m in fines to unruly passengers so far this year.

And a survey conducted by the Association of Flight Attendants found that of 5,000 flight attendants, 85 per cent had dealt with problem passengers in 2021.