A Virgin Atlantic Airbus A350 lands at London Heathrow Airport, England on Monday 14th September 2020.
Photo by Robert Smith/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
A Virgin Atlantic flight was forced to divert after passengers and crew detained an unruly passenger.
The flight was en route from London to Los Angeles when it landed in Salt Lake City.
Police did not say if any charges were filed regarding the incident.
A Virgin Atlantic flight was forced to divert to Salt Lake City on Tuesday because of an “unruly” passenger who was detained by others on board, police said.
Flight 141 — which was traveling from London to Los Angeles — was diverted to Salt Lake City at 4:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday because of the incident, a spokesperson for the Salt Lake City Police Department told Insider.
The spokesperson said the “unruly passenger” was “physically detained by other passengers and flight crew members,” though they did not say what the incident was or if any charges were filed yet.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson told Insider that the flight continued on to Los Angeles after a four-hour delay and apologized to the passengers for any inconvenience.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is always our top priority and we don’t tolerate any behavior that compromises this,” the spokesperson said, adding that crews are “highly trained” to handle disruptive individuals.
Virgin Atlantic denied initial reports that the unruly passenger tried to get into the cockpit during the flight.
Responding to an increasing number of unruly passenger incidents in recent years, the Federal Aviation Administration in January 2021 adopted a zero-tolerance policy and asked airports to help curb the issue and protect travelers.
As of Tuesday, there have been over 1,700 reports of unruly passengers in 2022, according to the latest FAA data. Since the zero-tolerance policy was initiated, however, the agency has seen a drop in unruly behavior while the total number of weekly flights has increased.
Tuesday’s incident, meanwhile, comes as airlines and airports continue to suffer from staffing issues. The dilemma has caused delays, disruptions, cancellations, and chaos at major travel hubs around the world.