Early Friday morning, a Delta Air Lines red-eye flight from Salt Lake City to Orlando was forced to make an emergency landing in Oklahoma City due to an unruly passenger.
According to Oklahoma City Police, 28-year old Derek Maas, a passenger aboard Delta flight 2603, was heavily intoxicated and violently head-butted a airlines/delta-airlines-to-hire-1000-more-flight-attendants.html” target=”_self” rel=”nofollow”>flight attendant after his request for more alcohol was denied.
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Maas reportedly began drinking before boarding the flight, but was no cause for concern to the safety of passengers and crew aboard.
At some point during the flight, Maas requested a drink, which was denied by a female flight attendant. Reports say the flight attendant eventually gave in after Maas insisted he would go to sleep after.
Unfortunately for all, that didn’t happen. When Maas requested another drink and was denied, he began to verbally harass the female flight attendant. A male flight attendant attempted to step in, at which time Maas became very irate and head-butted the man, causing a fight to break out.
For the safety of all aboard, the pilot called in for an emergency landing at Will Rogers World Airport, where officers were waiting to arrest Maas, who was officially booked at 9:25 a.m. for public drunkenness.
The flight continued on to eventually reach its final destination in Orlando, albeit being two hours behind its original schedule.
Delta Air Lines released a statement to Newsweek regarding the incident saying, “Delta applauds the quick action and professionalism of the crew of Delta Flight 2603 operating from Salt Lake City to Orlando which diverted to Oklahoma City after a customer became unruly and violent on board.”
It went on to say, “The crew restrained the customer and the flight was met by law enforcement in Oklahoma City, where he was removed and taken into custody. The flight continued to Orlando, arriving two hours past schedule. The safety and security of our customers and crew are always Delta’s top priority.”
