Man ‘threatens baby and says he’ll kill everyone onboard’ flight, prompting emergency landing

Video captures passenger’s bizarre rant in which he accuses people of ‘stealing his DNA’

A flight from New York to Orlando was forced to make an emergency landing after a passenger allegedly threatened to kill everyone onboard.

Fellow passengers told reporters that the unidentified man had become agitated on the Frontier flight on 9 February, shouting that the woman behind him was trying to “steal his DNA” with a syringe.

One person from the flight told ABC11 that the man had threatened a baby and shouted that he would kill everyone onboard.

Video filmed by someone seated nearby and posted to Twitter shows six male passengers restraining the disruptive man.

“Guy started flipping out saying the lady behind him was sticking him with needle to steal DNA,” tweeted the user who posted the video.

“Said he’d smack every mf on this plane... Threatened a baby... Said he’d kill everyone on this plane,” they added.

Passengers were able to keep him in his seat until the flight could re-route to Raleigh-Durham International in North Carolina, where he was escorted off the plane by police.

“They stickin’ us with needles... taking our DNA!” the man can be heard shouting, before he is forced back into his seat and tied up by others onboard.

In the video, the restrained man becomes visibly distressed, shouting: “You can’t do this! Oh my God.”

“Hey y’all, he needs to be able to sit in his seat… don’t tie his feet like that,” a female passenger can be heard saying. “Tie him up!” shouts one man.

Flight 1335 had taken off from New York’s LaGuardia airport on Wednesday evening, bound for Orlando, when the dramatic incident occurred.

Remaining passengers were forced to wait at Raleigh-Durham airport for two hours before the aircraft could take off again for Orlando.

US airlines last year recorded 5,000 incidents of disruptive passengers - almost three quarters of these (72 per cent) were due to travellers refusing to comply with mask rules.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian last week called on the country’s Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) once again to introduce a nationwide “no fly” list for unruly travellers.

“This action will help prevent future incidents and serve as a strong symbol of the consequences of not complying with crew member instructions on commercial aircraft,” Bastian wrote in the letter to Justice Department Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday.

The Independent has approached Frontier for comment on the incident.