American Airlines passenger sued by FAA after being duct taped to seat

Heather Wells bit, kicked and spat at staff as she reportedly attempted to open the front cabin door mid-flight

Yeah, nah. Stick her down with super glue if you have to at that point.

That headline doesn’t really do the article justice…

even in the article they try to slant it like "poor karen!" and it's annoying.
Even if you were to assume that she was having some sort of mental break down or something- which is entirely possible- You still have to maintain the physical safety of yourself and the other passengers on the plane first and foremost. though I'm a little surprised they don't have zip ties or handcuffs on board for unruly passengers... or, uh.. .something more than duct tape...
- I think they had zip cuffs, they just used the duct tape to keep her in the seat and keep her from spitting. They made the right call, and that lady definitely needs some kind of mental health intervention.

Airplanes need to start having a "brig" like boats. This taping people down business is silly.

Edit: I love how people are seriously responding to this bit of poop-time wisdom.

Around 30 years ago, American Airlines realized that by removing a single olive from every passenger's salad, they would save what amounts today to about $100,000 annually due to reduced weight. They did that.
Do you think they're going to remove seats and install a brig, or are they just going to make sure every flight has a half a roll of duct tape?
- Nah the savings came from reduced olives. Olives are expensive, it costs more to buy an olive than to fly it on a plane.
- They should remove those magazines that always litters the seat pockets. Must weigh a ton per flight.
- They will soon realise a quarter roll of duct tape is good enough and save millions again.
- They removed the olive because olives are gross.
Or, they could focus on making their flights as comfortable and stress free as possible, make flying a pleasure again, and fewer loonies will lose it. Imagine if we all had a good experience flying?
- Ticket prices originally used to be fixed by the goverment, which made airlines try to offer the best experince as a way to attract customers. But then lobbyists chanted "deregulation" enough times and airlines could set their own prices. Which of course started a race to the bottom where the way to attract customers was now to slash costs. It's a big reason how back in the 50s being a commercial airline pilots or flight attendent was prestigious profession, became today where most of a flight crew, pilot included, qualify for SNAP.
- It sure feels like this happens a hell of a lot more often now than when I was a kid back in the 80s or even a teen and young adult in the 90s. If that turns out to be statistically the case (it may just be that it's reported on more often), it doesn't seem like enough is being done to mitigate it.
- That option still exists, and the cost for such a luxury exists too. But you don't fly First Class, do you? Or do you like so many other people look at the price first and pick the flight the one that costs $20 less than the next cheapest?
  Relax, I do it too.
  Consumers are a lot more sensitive to price than they are quality. We don't book the $800 flight when there's another one for $300, and then we complain about how we're crammed into narrow seats with our knees packed against the seat in front of us. The airline that can turn a profit on a cheaper seat will fill those seats.
- There’s no demand for that. All evidence shows that people will sacrifice pretty much everything to get a cheaper flight. I think we as a society have simply accepted that flying is a miserable experience that we put up with to get where we’re going. A few hours of suffering for an amazing week in paradise (every vacationer’s dream).
- I have had good experiences flying....to Germany. Not so much anywhere else.
Where would they put it?
- Roof rack
There's really not enough space. Every bit is used. When was the last time you were on a commercial flight?
It's not an awful idea.
As long as they don't have the option to make the offenders walk the plank no self respecting airline CEO would allow there to be a brig.

Yeah... this woman deserved what she got. You cannot threaten the safety of everyone around you and then later go "oh poor me". No... FUCK you.

Edit: I must correct myself here. I misread the title of the post and thought she was using the FAA. Nope. They're suing her to collect on the fines they already levied. Again. Fuuuuuck her. She should get a significant penalty for being a goddam dickhead.

You should know that it is physically impossible to open the cabin door of an airliner at altitude. Cabin doors are designed so that one must first pull the door in to unlatch it. This requires overcoming a pressure differential of 7 psi or more. Assume a tiny 2' x 5' door. That equates to a surface area of 2' x 5' = 10 sq ft => 10 sq ft x 12" x 12" = 1,440 sq in => 1,440 sq in x 7 psi = 10,080 lbs of force. So the only way the cabin door is coming open is if the cabin is not pressurized, which normally means the plane is climbing to altitude after takeoff or descending for landing. If you are at altitude and the cabin is not pressurized, you will soon pass out unless you are wearing an emergency oxygen mask. The lack of pressure differential means no one would be sucked out of the plane; it would just be extremely windy.

So if someone tries to open the cabin door in the middle of your flight at altitude, just sit back and enjoy the show.

Boeing™ is committed to innovative solutions to problems like opening a cabin door mid flight
- Heck, some new Boeing planes don't even need a human to open the door! It'll just come right off!
- So the plug actually opened as the pressure differential was switching from positive to negative (the cabin pressure was lower than the atmospheric pressure). If it was already at altitude the plug would have stayed in place. But due to the missing fasteners the switch between pressures knocked it loose.
That said, you CAN open the cabin doors of certain aircraft when close enough to the ground! Especially the Airbus ones that open by sliding instead of swinging out.
Great video on the subject from a FANTASTIC channel run by a line instructor/tester.
I thought cabin door meant the pilots cabin

I think the cabin crew need to have an emergency straight jacket in case of loonies. Duct tape does seem rather archaeic.

You know what's funny? The official name for that tape is "Passenger Restraint Tape".
Unlike a straitjacket, duct tape is one-size-fits-all.
If its good enough for the ISS, its good enough to restrain crazies on flights

One of the 'tells' of mental illness in airplane passenger stories is business class. People experiencing manic episodes tend to take luxury options regardless of means.

It really sucks, and I'm sure red flags were present in the terminal if anyone paid attention.

On the plus side, she was probably hospitalized after the emergency landing, she may not be liable.

Maybe it’s people already miserable from the crowding, the stress, the cavity search, the paperwork, the worry about getting bumped, the lack of space, the lack of freedom to even move, the lack of elbow and knee space, all the wasted ti e of getting there hours ahead of time, will their toothpaste get flagged as a threat, etc …… just trying for a little peace and comfort, willing to pay a little more to get it, but no
- I've worked an ER servicing a major airport for years, I've seen tons of people like this lady come through. The vast majority of berzerk passenger syoroes involve first or business class passengers. That statement comes feom experience. 'Maybe's are like assholes, everyone has them.
- I agree but all those frustrations don't proceed in a logical fashion to opening the door at 30000 feet.
Yeah the lack of criminal charges indicates that it was a manic episode. She probably spent several weeks in a mental health ward. Otherwise she would have been charged for the abuse to the flight attendants and others.
She also likely had a ton of drugs in her system as well as the booze. People undergoing manic episodes will take about anything.
I am not so sure about the FAA fines. The U.S. civil court system is inherently unjust. There are many draconian rules that punish the mentally ill and impoverished.
- I'm a bit annoyed at the lack of charges unless she was criminally incompetent. We need to be empathetic to folks with mental illness but not every bipolar person does this shit, 'batshit' doesn't mean 'incompetent,' and a disability doesn't negate consequences.
  I imagine a lot of these people with serious MH issues would've been killed (by someone) back in the day. Now we just deal with them. But that doesn't mean we should just ignore what they do and give them a free pass to commit crimes.
..or stop serving alcohol to people on an airplane
And domestic business class at that. Terrible ROI.

Must've been some strong jack...

One jack can hit pretty hard if you're on a shitload of medication
- Doesn't altitude help too?
  Regardless there's no amount of plastered that'll get me to bite people on a flight.
If she took a Xanax to relax before the flight and then had a Jack, she could be unaware of the integration between benzos and alcohol.
One drink can put you into black out territory on benzos.

Sounds like she had some kind of violent allergic reaction to the drink or had taken some sedatives or other medications that might have caused a bad reaction. Or maybe just before the flight she drank a whole bunch and it just hadn't hit her yet. I can't see a single drink doing that, even for someone with a phobia or trauma. Hope that if it was something she had no control over, they'll at least take that into account. But if it was a mix of sedatives or she really was that drunk, then yeah, totally throw the book at her.

The woman is clearly mentally ill, and instead of sending her off to the loony bin for the help she needs, the reaction is to fuckin SUE her?

How's that going to help?

It was hidden in the article between all of the annoying ads, but the FAA fined her after the incident, and it looks like she hasn't paid up, so the lawsuit is to enforce the fine. She's hasn't been charged with anything which is probably why the FAA needs to file a civil lawsuit to enforce the fine.
- Again, how's that helping the woman? Poor lass

She is suing?!?! She is lucky she isn't tried for attempted murder for trying to open the airplane door in mid flight!!

Reread it, they are suing her