Mile-High Mayhem: Why Flipping Out on a Flight Could Cost You $200,000

An unruly passenger aboard a JetBlue aircraft awoke from a nap and started “flipping out,” others aboard the flight to Las Vegas said, causing the pilot to divert the flight to Detroit over the weekend.

A passenger’s video obtained by by ABC News shows the passenger lunging at a flight attendant, shouting and dramatically flailing his arms about while a female pleads, “Dad, stop it!” the Detroit Free Press reports.

Passengers interviewed by ABC said the passenger’s actions scared everyone on board. “Everyone was freaking out,” said one.

The man was restrained with plastic hand ties. Once the plane was on the ground in Detroit, fire department personnel took the passenger to Oakwood Hospital in Wayne, and he was later taken into police custody, ABC said.

             "Everyone was freaking out."

The Free Press said it wasn’t immediately clear if he would face charges.

The captain of Flight 211, which left New York’s Kennedy Airport shortly around 7 a.m. Saturday, landed the plane in Detroit about 90 minutes later out of “an abundance of caution,” JetBlue Airways Corp. said in a statement.

After about two hours, the plane was back in the air and on the way to Las Vegas.

Tell Us:

• What do you think is behind a 57 percent increase in flight diversions due to unruly behavior? And should the passengers have to pay?

It’s unclear what provoked the man, but the sudden outburst isn’t uncommon. ABC said there were 8,217 such incidents worldline last year – 57 percent increase, up from 5,220 in 2012 – and airline authorities are considering charging disruptive as much as $200,000 for diverted flights.