An enraged plane passenger was filmed yanking open an emergency door — further adding to the delays that sparked his fury.
Video posted on Reddit’s r/PublicFreakout showed a man with a gray goatee and hat screaming while demanding to be allowed off a Chicago-bound Delta flight that couldn’t leave Atlanta on time Monday because of severe thunderstorms.
“How long has it been delayed already?” he yelled beliggerently into a plane phone at an unidentified staffer. “Three, four hours and now you’re talking another hour?”
“Get me to the gate, I want off. Or I’ll take myself off,” he yelled — turning to an emergency door to his side.
He then grabbed the handle and opened the door, with a woman shrieking, “Oh, my God!”
When someone tried to intervene, the crazed passenger asked who they were — before saying arrogantly, “It doesn’t matter … You know who matters? Me.”
“I told you idiots,” he said rudely.
The clip ended with the captain taking to the intercom and telling him, “Sir, this is the captain speaking. We are going to go back to the gate.”
Delta confirmed that the flight was held on the tarmac at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Monday night because a ground stoppage at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport due to severe thunderstorms.
While waiting for liftoff, a customer became “unruly” and attempted to open a cabin door, according to the airline. The door handle was partially opened, but “the slide did not deploy,” Delta said.
The plane, which had 168 passengers onboard, taxied back to the gate and the unruly man was removed by security.
The plane spent more than five hours taxiing, leaving the gate at 7:38 p.m. but not taking off until 12:44 a.m., data from Flightaware shows. It finally made it to Chicago at 3:00 a.m. local time.
“The safety of our customers and crew comes before all else, and Delta has zero tolerance for unruly behavior,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “We apologize to our customers on this flight for the delay in their travels.”
The FAA is investigating.
