Home Scandal and Gossip Frontier Airlines passenger duct taped to seat, groping, punching flight attendants

Frontier Airlines passenger duct taped to seat, groping, punching flight attendants

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Maxwell Berry Ohio Frontier Airlines passenger duct taped to seat, groping and assaulting flight attendants.
Maxwell Berry Ohio Frontier Airlines passenger duct taped to seat
Maxwell Berry Ohio Frontier Airlines passenger duct taped to seat, groping and assaulting flight attendants.

Maxwell Berry Ohio Frontier Airlines passenger duct taped to seat, groping and assaulting flight attendants caught on video tape as unruly 22 year old goes on drinking bender.

Define flying etiquette? Video has captured the moment a male passenger on a Frontier Airlines flight to Florida was duct taped to his seat after downing several drinks and allegedly groping and assaulting flight crew members.

Maxwell Berry, 22, was arrested on three counts of battery after the incident, on a flight from Philadelphia to Miami on Saturday.  

The meltdown began when the 22-year-old Norwalk, Ohio native, who already had several drinks on the flight, ordered an additional one.

A Miami-Dade County Police report says the passenger brushed an empty cup against the backside of a flight attendant who told Berry ‘don’t touch me.’

Berry then spilled his drink on his shirt and went to the bathroom. When he came out shirtless, crew members had to help him get a clean shirt out of his carry-on luggage.

Groping flight attendants

After walking around for 15 minutes, Berry allegedly groped the chest of two female flight attendants.

‘He came up from behind and put his arms around both of them and groped their breast again,’ the report said. 

But there was more to come.

Police said Berry then punched a male flight attendant in the face.

Alfredo Rivera, who was sitting in a seat behind Berry, held on to the 22-year-old as he continued to scuffle with the attendant. 

‘He started to get aggressive and basically attack the male flight attendant,’ Rivera told Local10.com  

Rivera captured the moment Berry was taped to his seat, as bewildered fellow passengers looked on. 

Flight crew suspension met with criticism

Berry’s head appears to be taped down along with the rest of his body as he screams ‘help!’ 

After the Frontier plane landed, the 22-year-old was charged with three counts of battery and taken to Miami-Dade County Jail – TGK Correctional Center, 6abc.com reported. 

Frontier Airlines confirmed the incident and said the flight attendants involved will be relieved of flying until investigations into the incidents are complete. 

‘During a flight from Philadelphia to Miami on July 31, a passenger made inappropriate physical contact with a flight attendant and subsequently physically assaulted another flight attendant,’ the airline said in a statement. ‘As a result, the passenger needed to be restrained until the flight landed in Miami and law enforcement arrived. The flight attendants will be, as required in such circumstances, relieved of flying pending completion of investigation of the events.’

The decision to place the attendants on leave was met with scorn.

Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said in a statement that Frontier’s management should have supported the crew instead of making a ‘knee-jerk’ decision to suspend the flight attendants.

Maxwell Berry Ohio Frontier Airlines passenger duct taped to seat
Maxwell Berry Ohio Frontier Airlines passenger duct taped to seat, groping and assaulting flight attendants.

America’s unruly skies

‘We will be fighting this with every contractual and legal tool available, but we would hope there will be no need for that as management comes to their senses and supports the people on the frontline charged with keeping all passengers safe,’ Nelson said. ‘As noted in our unruly passenger survey, if this is not immediately corrected, Flight Attendants may feel unsafe to come to work. Management has a legal duty to maintain a safe work environment for employees.’

The weekend episode is one of many revolving incidents unfolding over America’s skies as air travel picks up following the pandemic. 

In June, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that airlines have reported more than 3,000 incidents involving unruly passengers since January 1, with about 76 percent of the nearly 3,300 reports involving passengers who refused to wear masks on board their flights.

It has collected $682,000 in penalties since the new regulations went into effect.

Since announcing a ‘zero-tolerance policy’ against unruly passengers in January, the FAA has publicized potential fines – some topping $30,000 – against more than 80 passengers. That is about three times the full-year average number of cases over the past decade, according to FAA figures.

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