A Japanese plane en route to Texas from Tokyo was forced to make an emergency landing in Seattle after a passenger attempted to open the aircraft’s doors while in flight.
According to a statement released by the airline, All Nippon Airways (ANA) Flight 114 was diverted approximately nine hours after taking off on Saturday “due to an unruly passenger.” The flight landed safely at 4:19 a.m. local time, where Port of Seattle Police and FBI Seattle were standing by.
Police informed the media it had been alerted to a male passenger who tried to open the aircraft’s doors while it was airborne.
The man, who has not been identified, was experiencing a medical crisis and was restrained by the flight crew and other passengers, police said.
After that, the man was taken to a hospital. It is unknown if he will face criminal charges.The airline later reiterated that the safety of its passengers and crew was its “top priority,” and thanked the efforts of local law enforcement to address the issue in a statement.While on the tarmac at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, a second passenger was removed from the flight for “unruly behaviour,” police said. The person had apparently become frustrated by the diversion and punched a bathroom door onboard.No charges have been filed against the second passenger, the FBI said.
According to flight data, the plane arrived at its intended destination of George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, on Saturday at around 12:40 p.m. local time, about four hours after it was supposed to touch down.
All Nippon Airways, which has its headquarters in Tokyo, operates flights that connect Asia with a number of cities in the United States, including New York City, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Honolulu. This is not the first incident in which a rowdy passenger traveled the same route. In 2024, an intoxicated customer on an ANA flight from Tokyo to Seattle reportedly bit a flight attendant on the arm about an hour into the journey. The 55-year-old American passenger was “heavily drunk” when he “sunk his teeth” into the female crew member, and airline spokesperson said.
Similar incidents have also occurred on other airlines over the past few years.
In April, a passenger on a Jetstar flight departing from Bali, Indonesia, attempted to open an airborne exit door, necessitating the plane’s reversal to Melbourne, Australia. The same month, a man aboard a Sydney-bound Air Asia flight from Kuala Lumpur allegedly attempted to open the emergency exit doors twice while mid-flight.
Last November, a man attempted to open the plane of an American Airlines flight and was restrained by staff and passengers with duct tape.
A year earlier, in November 2023, nine passengers on an Asiana Airlines flight were sent to a hospital with breathing issues after a fellow traveller opened the plane’s emergency exit door before landing at an airport in South Korea.
Passenger restrained after trying to open plane exit door mid-flight
