In March 2021, a 30-year-old passenger from England named Alexander MacDonald was ordered to pay United Airlines over $20,000 after a flight he was on had to divert due to his disruptive behavior. The incident occurred on a flight from London to Newark and led to an affidavit being filed against MacDonald for one count of flight interference.
According to the affidavit, MacDonald began arguing with his girlfriend during the flight, which resulted in a flight attendant asking him to calm down. Despite initially complying, MacDonald later threatened and physically confronted a crew member, leading the flight to divert to Bangor, Maine. During the incident, MacDonald threatened to “mess up the plane” and was verbally and physically aggressive towards the flight crew. Despite being restrained by crew members and passengers, the captain made the decision to divert the plane with 160 passengers on board.
The incident involving Alexander MacDonald is part of a larger trend of unruly passenger behavior on flights that has significantly increased since aviation returned from COVID disruptions in 2021. Although the number of incidents has been gradually declining since then, it remains higher than pre-pandemic levels. As of April 21st, there have been 598 reports of unruly passengers this year alone – indicating a potential increase of over 80% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
United Airlines declined comment on this specific incident involving Alexander MacDonald but acknowledged that unruly passenger behavior is becoming more common on flights as they return to normalcy post pandemic.
