A United Airlines passenger indignant that his flight was canceled was banned by the provider and arrested after punching a gate agent.
On Thursday, Christopher Crittenden, 54, of Frederick, Maryland, was incensed over disruption to his journey plans at Dulles Worldwide Airport, in accordance with Washington’s WTTG.
After a gate agent blocked him from going any farther as one other flight deboarded, he mentioned, “I’m achieved with this [expletive]” and punched the agent, in accordance with one other District of Columbia station, WUSA.
Mr. Crittenden was purportedly indignant on the delay after his first flight was canceled and one other flight that might have taken him the place he wanted to go was absolutely booked. His violence got here although he had secured a seat on a 3rd flight, an unnamed witness instructed TMZ.
He was subsequently arrested and charged with assault and disorderly conduct, police with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority instructed WJLA-TV. The MWAA hearth and rescue workforce took the gate agent, unnamed publicly by authorities, to a neighborhood hospital for therapy.
United Airlines confirmed to WUSA that Mr. Crittenden has been banned from all of its future flights. Officers with the Worldwide Affiliation of Machinists and Aerospace Works that represents the gate agent denounced the fracas.
“This newest incident is one more instance of the unacceptable rise in violence in opposition to frontline airline employees, and speedy motion is required to handle it. … There have been minimal authorized repercussions for offending passengers. … So long as these violent incidents persist, the IAM is not going to cease advocating for actual enforcement of legal guidelines that defend airline staff,” IAM President Brian Bryant and IAM Air Transport Territory Basic Vice President Richie Johnsen mentioned in an announcement.
There have been 276 stories of unruly passengers in 2025, in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration knowledge. Greater than 2,000 such incidents got here in every of the previous three years.
