In this episode of Passengers Behaving Badly — which, by the way, is finding way too much air time of late — a United Airlines flight to Washington (IAD) was forced to turn back to London after a woman on board caused quite the stir. Shortly after departing from Heathrow (LHR) at 12:14pm local time on Sept. 23, 2018, UA919 pulled a return to sender, landing at the same airport from which it took off.
Passengers on board reported that a woman began acting erratically about an hour into the flight, with sporadic yelling and cursing that was loud enough for “everyone within a five meter radius” to hear. After the flight crew asked if any medical professionals were on board the Boeing 787-8, a follow-up announcement made clear that the flight would be returning to the United Kingdom. Making matters worse, Sunday’s UA919 was subsequently cancelled after the crew timed out, though the passenger responsible was arrested upon her return.
United’s statement on the flight is below.
“Our team at London Heathrow provided assistance to customers of United flight UA919 (London Heathrow – Washington/Dulles) yesterday, which returned to London Heathrow and was met by police on arrival due to an unruly passenger on board. The passenger was arrested and this is now a matter for the police.
Due to crew exceeding their legally permitted duty hours, this flight was cancelled. We provided our customers with meal vouchers and hotel accommodation and they departed for Washington/Dulles this morning.”
H/T: The Mirror