American Airlines Flier Dogpiled, Accused of Trying to Open Door in Flight

An American Airlines flight was forced to make an unscheduled landing after a man attempted to open an emergency exit while the plane was in flight, authorities said.

A spokesperson for the airline said in a statement emailed to Newsweek on Tuesday night that a flight scheduled to travel from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Chicago earlier in the day turned back "shortly after takeoff due to a disturbance in the cabin involving a disruptive customer."

The spokesperson said that Flight 1219 "landed safely" and "was met by local law enforcement upon arrival" at Albuquerque International Sunport. The city's division of the FBI is also investigating the incident, according to New Mexico NBC affiliate KOB.

Fellow passengers quickly responded to the unnamed man's alleged attempt to open the door by forcefully restraining him, according to passenger Zach Etkind, host of the Barstool Sports series Donnie Does.

Etkind wrote in a post to X, formerly Twitter, that he was "was shaken out of [his] Panda Express and Tequila induced stupor by a man trying to aggressively open the airplane door 4 rows back" 30 minutes after the flight departed.

"Me and 5 other dudes had to wrestle him into the aisle, duct tape his legs, and throw flexi-cuffs on him," he added, while sharing an image of the several men hovering over and restraining the man. "Just safely landed back in ABQ but HOLY S***."

An image of a man in a hooded sweatshirt being led on the outside of a jet bridge by four law enforcement officers was shared in a subsequent post by Etkind, who captioned the photo,"Ladies and gentlemen, WE GOT HIM."

Etkind later told Fox News Digital that fellow passengers had heard the suspect say that he "had to get off this plane" before attempting to open the door. He added that the man did not resist "too aggressively" after being taken away from the door and restrained.

The incident on Tuesday was far from the first time that a passenger was accused of attempting to open an emergency exit in flight. Attempts usually fail, due to the pressure differential between the air inside the cabin and outside the aircraft essentially locking the door shut.

During an American Airlines flight in 2021, a woman had to be restrained and duct-taped to her seat after allegedly attempting to open an exit before biting and spitting on a flight attendant who tried to stop her. The airline told The Charlotte Observer at the time that it was "typically physically impossible" to open an airplane door in flight.

However, a passenger managed to successfully open the door of an Asiana Airlines flight last year while it was preparing to land in the South Korean city of Daegu. The man attempted to jump out of the aircraft at a height of over 800 feet before being restrained, with the flight making a safe landing shortly thereafter.