Unruly Passenger Diverts 9-Hour Flight Over Airline Food

Photo: Thierry Monasse (Getty Images)

There are many things to be frustrated by with passenger air travel. A large enough thunderstorm could cancel your flight and everyone else’s in the entire terminal. TSA checkpoints are still take ages to get through and overly invasive. That being said, I wouldn’t put food on that list. One particularly discontent person would likely disagree. A passenger on a recent United Airlines flight was unruly enough over not getting his preferred meal choice that the plane had to be diverted.

Outdated Air Traffic Technology Is Plaguing Your Travel

On Sunday, United Airlines Flight 20 was scheduled to fly from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands. The flight took off at 4:20 p.m. and is usually nine and a half hours long. However, the United Boeing 777 was circling in the skies near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport two hours later, burning fuel to lower the aircraft’s weight ahead of a landing.

The plane wasn’t forced to land because of a mechanical issue but due to an unruly passenger. According to the Guardian, the person seated in business class became enraged over their meal choice. United’s business class passengers usually have a choice between seared beef short rib, seared lemon grass salmon, or ricotta salata and wild honey manicotti. We’re nowhere near pretzels and flat soda territory.

United sent a statement to the newspaper, reading:

“United flight 20 from George Bush Intercontinental Airport to Amsterdam diverted to O’Hare International Airport and landed safely following a passenger disturbance. Law enforcement met the aircraft at the gate and escorted the passenger off the plane. The aircraft then continued to Amsterdam.”

United Flight 20 eventually reached Schiphol three hours later than scheduled. It isn’t clear what happened to the passenger after they were escorted off the plane, but the FAA has doled out fines up to nearly $82,000 for unruly behavior in recent years as the agency attempted to crack down on in-flight disruptions.