An incident aboard an Icelandair flight led to an
intervention by passengers and flight crew last week. According to the New York Post, the 46-year-old Iceland native became rowdy during the New
York-bound flight, only a few hours after departure from Reykjavík airport.
Allegedly having drunk several bottles of hard duty-free liquor, the passenger
started causing a racket. He then
“became intoxicated, verbally abusive toward the flight crew as well as other
passengers,” a police source stated. After spitting at other passengers,
attempting to choke some, and repeatedly calling out that the plane was going
to crash, the man’s fellow passengers were so fed up that they decided to take matters into their own hands.
Two
Guatemalan men pinned the rowdy Icelander to his seat, at which point the
Icelandair crew stepped in with duct tape and cuffs. The man was taped to
his seat and gagged, and remained that way for the rest of the flight, approximately
two hours. New York-resident Andy Ellwood posted a photo of the restrained passenger on his Tumblr, taken by his friend who was on the flight.
Upon arrival at JFK, the man was taken into custody by
New York police officers. Although being ‘drunk and disorderly’ on board an
airplane is a crime, charges were dropped.
Icelandair declined to comment on the incident.
Photo credit: Andy Ellwood
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