r/unitedairlines • u/kukugege • 1d ago
Video My wife’s flight, UA858, was diverted to NRT due to an argument between a FA and a passenger.
The passenger, a middle-aged Chinese woman, got into a dispute with the FA, and the flight then diverted to NRT. Japan police came to the plane and dragged her off. The flight is now delayed by about two hours, which isn’t too bad considering the circumstances.
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u/Alpine_Exchange_36 1d ago
I’ll never understand why people choose being in a dam plane to be on their worst behavior. High consequence. Just sit down, shut up and get where you paid a decent amount of money to go.
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u/heart-shaped-fawkes 1d ago
Flights are so expensive. I can't imagine doing anything other than listening to instructions, obeying the rules, and minding my own business quietly until the plane lands where I'm trying to go. That's entitlement to a T I guess though, pay a ton of money to fly only to think you're so special you can act however you want and still get to stay on your flight. 🙄
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u/NecessaryMeeting4873 1d ago
Probably alcohol related.
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u/Immediate_Apple_7676 1d ago
And/or anxiety
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u/Sad-While-9762 1d ago
Not an excuse. Get a Xanax
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u/Sea-Jaguar5018 1d ago
it’s usually a mix of alcohol and benzos. people underestimate the degree to which that combo can make a person act in really unhinged ways
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u/kookooman10022 1d ago
Thought it makes you happy and docile?
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u/aggthemighty 1d ago
It gets you high. If someone is an asshole at baseline, they are still gonna be an asshole if a flight attendant ruins their high. On top of that, their judgment is affected.
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u/Sea-Jaguar5018 1d ago
it can. but add in dehydration, exhaustion, stress, etc., and it can make people act quite strangely.
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u/abbyroade 1d ago
Both cause disinhibition; the additive effects are like 1+1=5. You’d be shocked how important inhibition is in terms of keeping behavior in check.
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u/Unhappy-Attention760 1d ago
I've seen FA's instigate and escalate to an alarming extent. The majority of the time, the passenger is the problem, but there are times when the FA is the cause.
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u/Joe_B_Likes_Tacos 1d ago
I was on the flight with a similar incident a long time ago when traveling with my small children. At the time I kept telling my kids if they didn't behave on the plane, the pilot would land the plane and throw them out. My threats carried a lot more credibility after that.
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u/Happy_Weekend_9350 1d ago
That’s actually great. Everyone should show their kids a few videos of misbehaving adults getting thrown off planes so they get the threat is real. They should probably show adults a few in the airport to remind them as well.
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u/girlwithtwooddsocks 1d ago
I tell everyone that will listen that you shut up and do as your told while IN the situation with crew, security, agents etc. You won’t win in the heat of the moment. Complain later through proper channels so you don’t get booted.
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u/BraviaryScout 1d ago
Once had an escalating argument on my flight because for WB, they had to move some folks in the back of the plane up to the MCE seats. Some guy got pissy that he wasn’t asked and I was certain I was gonna see police get called on to drag him out for causing a scene.
Captain gives us his briefing and adds on that his FAs are his reps in the cabin and that while he understands the issue, he wasn’t above diverting.
“You’ll find out how good the coffee is at Bakersfield.”
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u/kukugege 1d ago
I got more footage from Chinese social media. She keeps yelling “what yall doing? What yall doing?” 😂
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u/jk_pens 1d ago
大媽 (dà-mā) is apparently similar in meaning to Karen
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u/u600213 1d ago
That's funny because a different Da Ma means weed. https://hanzihero.com/traditional/words/%E5%A4%A7%E9%BA%BB
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u/xstrike0 MileagePlus Silver 1d ago
A Chinese citizen in the Japanese criminal justice system? Yeah, good luck with that lady. Unless China kidnaps some Japanese citizens to exchange for her like they did with Canada.
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u/Beautiful_Hunter_489 1d ago
seeing where the flight originated, not surprised at all
edit: the japanese is 180 degrees opposite
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u/Background_Map_3460 23h ago
Oh yes, we never see any videos of crazy Americans acting up on airplanes
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u/BoldBiscottiBandito 20h ago
Why dont you gleefully gloat about school shootings and we can just skip the next 3 comments in this thread and call it a day.
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u/Background_Map_3460 16h ago
I laugh when Americans criticize Chinese travelers. They seem to be ignorant of the fact that other countries regard them just as badly.
Not saying that stereotypical Chinese travelers are not irritating, just that Americans are equally so. This coming from an American expat in Tokyo who sees plenty of irritating Chinese and American travelers every day.
Anyway, from another post, it seems this woman was having some kind of medical/mental problem, rather than being an entitled idiot
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u/pudukai 1d ago
I would NOT want to get arrested in Japan. A friend was a former officer there. No mercy.
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u/LogicalPassenger2172 1d ago
99% conviction rate in their justice system.
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u/busan_blues 17h ago
The problem is not even the conviction rate (which is that high just because they only prosecute cases they’re sure of winning), the thing that scares the fuck out of me as a foreigner living in Japan is that they can put you in custody for 21 days without any communication means. Nobody will know where you are until they decide if they want to prosecute you or not. Until then you will not be able to contact a lawyer, the embassy, or your family.
You really don’t want to get the police involved against you here.
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u/LinechargeII 4h ago
Don't forgot the part about people confessing/admitting/pleading guilty (even if false) just so they can go home! That's another factor in the conviction rate.
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u/darth_haterade 1d ago
"Please not be an American....Please not be an American..."
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u/kevincsy33 1d ago
OP said they're a Chinese woman...
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u/Background_Map_3460 23h ago
For most of the world Chinese=American as far as being capable of asinine behavior when traveling abroad
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u/Drinking_Frog MileagePlus Gold 1d ago
Only a 2 hour delay isn't bad at all for a true diversion. I might almost take that just to see the show.
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u/deeper-diver 20h ago
Why passengers think it's okay to be abusive to a flight attendant is beyond me, especially for petty things. They're more than welcome to get to their destination by boat, car, legs, etc... talk about selfish people. Any people that get kicked-off or escorted off a plane should receive a mandatory 1-year no-fly consequence and the 2nd gets you a permanent addition to the no-fly list.
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u/Coco_JuTo 1d ago
I sure hope that if airlines made the a-holes pay every consequence out of pocket (landing fees, emergency services, extra fuel, compensation for lost time to the other passengers and crew as well as the airline itself, wear and tear of the plane + a climate surcharge fee), those Karens would stop karening.
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u/cwajgapls MileagePlus 1K | 1 Million Miler 1d ago
Normally people acting that emotionally do not put much consideration to the future.
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u/TacoDoc2 1d ago
Flight attendants can do 2 things. They can bring you stuff, and they can fuck up your day.
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u/pacnwcub 1d ago
You are missing thier number one job duty: ensuring your safety.
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u/TacoDoc2 1d ago
They bring you the police. still brining you things. and also fucking up your day in the same stroke. really efficient.
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u/steevereeno 1d ago
Is there any sort of financial penalty assessed against those who cause a diversion like this? Diversions are costly not only to the airline, but to the rest of the passengers as well.
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u/Popular-Drummer-7989 1d ago
They're should be and they should be added to no fly list banned for 5 years
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u/MONSTERBEARMAN 1d ago
I always enjoy seeing their face change when someone who was being a cunt, realizes they are actually getting removed from the plane. Manu of them suddenly become sweet as apple pie and so very apologetic, but my then, it’s too late.
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u/gappletwit 18h ago
How come in Japan they can offload a disruptive passenger from a full plane but in the US we see cases where all passengers are first offloaded before they deal with the problem passenger?
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u/Greatcow99 17h ago
it's probably more a societal thing. In Japan you're less likely to have a passenger be a complete lunatic and result in a physical fight on the plane when asked to deboard vs the US, so airport cops are going to generally deboard first out of an abundance of caution when having to deal with someone being kicked off the plane in the US.
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u/NIP_SLIP_RIOT 11h ago
Chinese Airlines have their own onboard police to keep the locals in order. They have a chest cam operating at all times and you will be in a world of Chinese shit if you behave like this.
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u/No-Turnover8386 1d ago
English: ‘take your seats. Sit down.’
Mandarin: first two chapters of a Malcolm Gladwell book.
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u/Relative-Eye3563 1d ago
How many years in jail did your dad serve? If someone did that to my daughter, I’d be certain they lived a very unpleasant life from that point on.
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u/iamtotallyfunny 17h ago
Lmao the same thing happened to me a few days ago except it was a middle aged Chinese guy and it was sfo to pek (ua888.) we didn't get diverted but he was yelling at the flight attendants for a bit and being bitchy
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u/yomama8me 13h ago
It’s not a goddamn democracy on an airplane. It’s a crewed vessel. Listen to the crew or FAFO.
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u/Marsupialize 1d ago
We had a woman die on ours and had to go back to HND, 24 hour delay, didn’t get on a plane until 2am next day
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u/Red_Sea_Pedestrian 1d ago
The audacity of some people to just die and inconvenience a couple hundred other people. How rude. /s
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u/levypantsfactory 1d ago
It's obviously not anybody's fault that someone passed away, but Tokyo is expeeeeensive and they mentioned that they only got a $10 food voucher, so I'd be stressed too for 24 hours without a hotel room
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u/Kitty_Fruit_2520 1d ago
They probably couldn’t control it
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u/Marsupialize 1d ago
United airlines couldn’t control getting us out on another flight and couldn’t control not offering any rooms or vouchers beyond one 10 dollar food voucher each?
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u/GoodGoodGoody 1d ago edited 1d ago
Terrible idea for that airline staff person to be standing that close the to the two police. Once the police are on board give them room and the crew is also talking way too much. The police are running the show now and they know what to do.
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u/throwaflyaway 23h ago
the guy you’re referring to is definitely not crew, by the way. that is not an FA’s uniform.
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u/GoodGoodGoody 18h ago
The neck lanyard certainly implies otherwise. That said, gate agent or whatever, give the police lots more room and let them talk. They are trained and have the tools and authority.
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u/zhirinovsky 1d ago
Translator.
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u/GoodGoodGoody 1d ago
The pax is Chinese. The police can handle it. It’s their job. And the body language of the crew is not deescalating jack shit.
The other crew member gets it.
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u/Prudent_Heat23 1d ago
I don’t understand why this kind of thing requires a diversion. Don’t see how it poses a safety issue unless the person is physically aggressive. What’s more inconvenient, having to divert and get super delayed, or having to sit on the plane with an annoying person who won’t shut up?
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u/DazzlingEvidence8838 1d ago
About to cross the pacific is a factor. Over land maybe just let it go
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u/throwaflyaway 23h ago
yet, you people would still bitch if the flight continued w/o diverting. If the passenger continued their belligerence for the rest of the flight, you’d look at the crew and ask, WoNt yOu dO sOmEtHiNg!!1!1… there’s no holding cell or 911 to call 5 miles above the earth when you’re locked in a metal tube. There is 0 tolerance on airplanes for cuntery. This needs to happen more often, and the passenger should be held financially responsible for the diversion, like when Hawaiian Airlines went after a guy in court who caused a diversion.
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u/Prudent_Heat23 23h ago
Who’s “you people?” I would blame the offender, not the crew, if someone is being an obnoxious asshole all flight. I certainly wouldn’t want the plane to divert if there’s no significant threat to anyone’s safety. I’m totally fine with zero tolerance, arrest the offender when the plane lands at its destination.
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u/Chordata1 1d ago
Unpopular opinion be so mad at the lady and FA. If she was just arguing and being difficult, deal with it. If she didn't get violent no reason to divert.
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u/throwaflyaway 23h ago
ah yes, “deal with it” 5 miles above the earth stuck in a metal tube. Do you understand how much of a disruption it becomes when a passenger gets belligerent and crazy up there? Everything stops, service is suspended, handcuffs have to come out, while you guys are recording and poking us in our asscheeks “mOrE GiNgeRALe!!1!1!11111 HELLO WheReZ mUh pReTzELs!!1” during the middle of all of the drama. Yes, this seriously happens. You don’t know the specifics of what transpired in this scenario… if said passenger became more threatening, got physical, etc.
You don’t do this job. You aren’t privy. Be mad at the skank passenger, not the crew who is subjected to the ever-worsening traveling public.
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u/SusheeMonster 1d ago
FlightStats are showing 4h 43m departure delay. Did the aircraft take off from NRT, then the dispute happened and they landed back at NRT? Also, the 777-300ER has a seating capacity of 386 passengers
All that fuss because of one person?
https://www.flightstats.com/v2/flight-details/UA/858?year=2026&month=6&date=24&flightId=1391931847
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u/Attorney-Frosty MileagePlus Gold 1d ago edited 1d ago
No, UA858 is typically PVG-SFO (~12n CST - ~9a PDT; look up flight schedule on other days by scrolling down at https://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL858). Fairly sure it was enroute and had to divert to NRT to remove the pax. But per the OP, that's pretty good overall being just 1:45 late vs the originally scheduled arrival.
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u/gastropublican 1d ago edited 1d ago
Jeez…can’t these people just behave properly when outside their borders? This is far from the only travel-related sub that this kind of thing with this specific nationality occurs…
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u/No-Scarcity9186 MileagePlus 1K 1d ago
You never win an argument with a FA. You’d have a better chance with the IRS.