Video Reveals Woman Duct-Taped To Seat After Trying To Open Passenger Door In-Flight

A TikTok shows a woman duct-taped to her seat on an American Airlines flight after she reportedly attacked flight attendants and attempted to open the plane's front door.

Business Insider reports the incident happened on American Airlines Flight 1774 traveling from Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, to Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday.

In the video, TikTok user @lol.ariee — who appears to have since been banned from the app — shows an unidentified woman in first class with duct tape around her chest and mouth as she attempts to scream at passengers who are departing the plane after it landed.

In a follow-up video, @lol.ariee explained the commotion started one hour into the two-hour flight when "all flight attendants were running up and down the aisles, frantically kind of like whispering to each other."

With @lol.ariee's account ban, her videos do not appear but one video has since been re-uploaded by user @notkenna1717.

In the video, @lol.ariee said the crew began locking bathrooms and started grabbing bags from overhead bins, but wouldn't say what exactly was happening.

"It was just kind of like chaos and no one knows what's going on," she continued.

The pilot finally spoke over the intercom and asked people to stay in their seats because of "a bad situation in the plane," though he did not elaborate further, according to @lol.ariee.

In the video, @lol.ariee explains her mom had the seat in front of the woman and said a flight attendant sitting near them said the woman was going through an apparent mental breakdown, "had an outburst" and attempted to get off the plane.

"She was saying, 'I need to get off this plane,' and she went up to the exits and started banging on the doors, saying, 'You need to let me off this plane!'" @lol.ariee said.

The woman reportedly started biting, spitting, and attacking flight attendants, @lol.ariee said, which ultimately prompted the crew to "take her down" and duct tape her mouth.

Insider reports the video — which had been viewed more than 4 million times, but has since been removed — shows a police officer and medical personnel waiting by the plane's entrance as other passengers depart the cabin upon landing. This can be seen in the re-upload though.

An American Airlines spokesperson told Insider that the woman "attempted to open the forward boarding door and physically assaulted, bit, and caused injury to a flight attendant."

"We applaud our crew for their professionalism and quick effort to protect those on board," the spokesperson added, per Insider.

In the follow-up video, @lol.ariee said she believed that "what was happening seemed like it was beyond the woman's control."

"She was scared," she said. "They should have a better way of going about it…I feel like it was handled poorly."

An American Airlines flight attendant responded to her videos:

The article states that since January 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration has received 2,500 reports of unruly behavior by passengers, most of which involve travelers refusing to comply with the federal mask mandate.

Photo credit: @lol.airee/TikTok, courtesy of Business Insider.