An American Airlines flight from Tokyo to Dallas was diverted to Seattle after an ‘unruly passenger’ shoved crew members and pounded on the cockpit door after her phone charger stopped working.
Walka Suzuki, 26, asked a flight attendant of the American Airlines flight AA60 to help her with charging her phone after finding that her seat charger is faulty. Suzuki got furious when her phone failed to charge and started shouting at the flight attendants.
When the flight attendants failed to solve her issue, Suzuki allegedly ran down the aircraft aisle from her seat in Economy towards the flight deck. As an attendant tried to stop her, Suzuki stomped on her foot and continued going until she got to the flight deck where she started banging on the door demanding help for the phone charging issue.
Following the incident, the Captain put the aircraft into Level Three Lockdown, informing regulator FAA about a threat and diverted the flight to Seattle where Suzuki refused to deplane for 25 minutes.
According to an affidavit, customs and Border Protection officers that the flight attendants were “rude and dismissive” towards her.
Suzuki, who is a Japanese citizen, admitted that she knocked on the flight deck door and that she punched and elbowed one of the flight attendants. She also alleged that the crew pushed her to the floor and spat on her.
The FBI is currently investigating the incident.