Passenger Targeted In Bloody Attack On A Spirit Airlines Flight

A Spirit Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Detroit earlier this week turned bloody as passengers attacked and beat a man who had complained that they were being too noisy for him to sleep, this according to a report on Detroit Channel Four's clickedondetroit.com. A passenger recorded the fight, though the news channel's coverage had the faces of the presumed attackers blurred out. It was, the passenger who took the video said, a bloody scene.

The story gets even more disturbing, unfortunately, though Spirit disputes several of these claims.

Some have referred to the incident as a brawl, but based on the information we've seen, it seems more like an assault, though details are still emerging. Regardless, passengers reported that flight attendants, after initially trying to break up the fight, stepped back and declined to intervene further, fearing it was too dangerous to do so. One of them being quoted as saying, "We don't get paid enough," presumably for enforcement actions such as were presumably required.

Regardless, the captain elected to make an emergency landing in Des Moines, Iowa, where the flight was on the ground for two hours. According to reports, before Air Marshals in Iowa could go onboard, the attackers changed their allegedly blood-stained clothes. After the delay, during which passengers were left onboard the plane, no one was removed, including the ones who were involved in the incident, and the flight continued on to Detroit reportedly without the interior of the plane being cleaned of the blood. Spirit said through a spokesperson, however, that the plane was cleaned after the incident.

No one, according to reports, was arrested, as police claimed that they didn't have jurisdiction over the assault, which happened over a different state.

Spirit Airlines responded to Plane & Pilot's request for comment, saying,

"We are aware of a physical altercation onboard Flight Number 709 Las Angeles (LAX) to Detroit (DTW) that caused a diversion to Des Moines. Taking care of our Guests and Team Members is and always has been our absolute priority. Spirit Airlines does not tolerate any type of physical altercation on board our aircraft and appropriate action will be taken. We thank the law enforcement officers in Des Moines for their assistance upon arrival."

The airline also disputed several of the claims in the original story. In an email response to Plane & Pilot, it said, "Our Flight Attendants did try to de-escalate the situation. They had to back off when it got dangerous," as we reported. They added, "Our Flight Attendants did [emphasis is Spirit's] clean the area with our onboard biohazard supply kits." In the email, the Spirit spokesperson also took issue with how full the flight was, saying that it was not "packed" but, rather, "roughly three- quarters filled."