Video Shows An Airline Passenger Punching Staff On A Flight & Others Had To Hold Him Back
It all started over a seat.
A United Airlines plane taking off.
A passenger has been banned from flying with United Airlines after he allegedly attacked a customer service employee onboard a plane bound for Houston on Sunday.
In a video shared online, a man can be seen throwing punches at another person as fellow airline passengers shout and try to stop him.
San Francisco police told ABC News that Cody Benjamin Lovins, 47, from Texas, was arrested and charged with battery after the alleged incident on the flight.
United Airlines confirmed the incident to Narcity and said in a statement that the passenger became disruptive and assaulted one of its employees.
"Our team at San Francisco International Airport immediately contacted law enforcement after a disruptive customer assaulted one of our customer service employees during boarding," the airline said.
"This customer's behavior was unacceptable, he has been banned from future United flights and we are working with local law enforcement in their investigation."
Naya Jimenez, who was on the flight and shot a video of the incident, told ABC 7 New York that the man became angry after "she asked his wife, and then him, to move out of her assigned seat."
In a TikTok video shared by the news outlet, Jimenez says a gate attendant came onto the flight to try and diffuse the situation and that's when the man began "slurring his speech."
The man also allegedly opened the emergency exit and tried to jump out of the plane.
"The plane is elevated, so he would have jumped apparently two stories to the ground," Jimenez added.
This isn't the first tense situation to happen on a flight this week.
A video on social media shows passengers on a Frontier Airlines flight yelling at each other before a woman is allegedly voted off the flight bound to Atlanta, Georgia, on Monday. Many people compared to the situation to a scene out of Survivor.
In April, another video was uploaded to TikTok showing a man melting down over a crying baby onboard a Southwest Airlines flight headed to Orlando, Florida.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.