Man allegedly bit another passenger and assaulted others on plane landing at LAX

Delta Air Lines planes taxi at LaGuardia Airport in New York in a November 2024 photo. (Nicolas EconomouNurPhoto/Getty Images/FILE via CNN Newsource).

The FAA and law enforcement are investigating after a passenger allegedly attacked a number of people on a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles on Monday.

Shortly after Delta Flight 501 landed at LAX, staff on board reported an adult male was restrained after biting one passenger and hitting others, according to the LA Fire Department and the Transportation Security Administration.

An ambulance took the restrained man to the hospital for a psychological evaluation and later returned to examine a passenger he had injured, LAFD said.

“Delta has zero tolerance for unruly behavior and will work with law enforcement authorities,” airline spokeswoman Samantha Moore Facteau told CNN.

It’s not clear what happened after this passenger was taken to the hospital, but he could face criminal or civil penalties.

More than 2,100 reports of unruly passengers were logged by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2024, according to figures on the agency’s website. More than 300 such incidents have been logged so far this year.

Some incidents may lead to prosecution on criminal charges.

“The FAA pursues legal enforcement action against any passenger who assaults, threatens, intimidates, or interferes with airline crewmembers, and can propose civil penalties up to US$37,000 per violation,” the FAA said in a statement.

Unruly passenger behaviour reached a record high during the pandemic in 2021, with nearly 6,000 incidents logged that year.

Article written by Isabel Rosales and Alexandra Skores, CNN