An American Airlines flight yesterday diverted due to a pepper spray incident onboard. Goodness gracious, what is wrong with people…
In this post:
American flight diverts to Jacksonville due to pepper spray discharge
This incident happened yesterday (on Sunday, August 20, 2023), and involves American Airlines flight AA1680 from Miami (MIA) to New York (LGA). Long story short, the flight diverted to Jacksonville (JAX), and ended up arriving in New York several hours late/
The cause? Well, according to the official notes published by American on the flight, it was due to pepper spray being discharged in the cabin.
For a bit more commentary on this, a Reddit user shares what was apparently happening onboard, as their significant other was on the flight, and providing the play-by-play. According to this report, about half an hour into the flight, passengers and flight attendants in the back of the plane started coughing and couldn’t see.
No one knew what was happening, so the flight attendant got on the PA to state that if anyone knew what was in the air, they needed to speak up. A short time later, the decision was made to divert to Jacksonville.
When it was clear how seriously this situation was being taken, someone came forward and claimed they had accidentally used pepper spray. The claim was that they had mistaken pepper spray for something else (either sanitizer or lotion), which is of course a highly suspect claim.
At the gate, paramedics boarded the plane, and police also boarded to take statements from passengers. One flight attendant even needed additional care, reportedly. The person who fessed up to the pepper spray was reportedly a member of a four person family, and the family was escorted off, as passengers cheered.
For what it’s worth, passengers were on the ground for nearly four hours — they landed in Jacksonville at 6:39PM, and continued to New York on a different aircraft at 10:29PM, arriving over three hours behind schedule.
So, what was the motivation for this incident?
First of all, I can’t imagine any planet on which someone could mistake pepper spray for lotion or hand sanitizer. I’m sorry, but that’s simply not believable. It’s also worth mentioning that while the TSA bans bringing pepper spray through security checkpoints, it’s not surprising that people could pretty easily bring it onboard, since in the scanner it probably just looks like any other liquid.
So, why would a passenger intentionally pepper spray the cabin? Here’s the theory that apparently emerged:
Turns out it may be racially motivated and now AA and PD is taking the matter that much more seriously. Multiple passengers are talking about and agreeing that it was. Across from the Italian family was a Black family with a baby. A few people said they heard the spray go off and the teen son giggle about it and look across the aisle to the other family. Others are describing being asleep and waking up coughing.
A few things are being opined, that the mom is taking the blame because it’s more believable she’d make that “mistake” over her teen son, whether or not the whole family was in on it, and why was the other family targeted that way when there wasn’t any indication of a problem between them beforehand according to neighboring passengers.
While it’s entirely possible that this was the motivation, I think it’s also possible a teen just wasn’t using his brain, and thought it would be a funny prank. So while we can’t know for sure what the motivation was, the fact that there was giggling going on while this happened further supports that this probably wasn’t an accident.
Bottom line
Passengers traveling from Miami to New York last night on an American Airlines had an unscheduled stop in Jacksonville after pepper spray was discharged in the cabin.
The culprit reportedly claimed it was an accident, but that’s really not very believable. Police and paramedics got onboard, and the flight continued several hours late, but without the family responsible for this.
It’s disheartening how low people will stoop with their behavior. I understand teenagers sometimes like to pull pranks, but that should well short of thinking it’s okay to use pepper spray in a confined space that’s shared with others. Goodness.
What do you make of this pepper spray incident?
One reason why Pepper Spray is illegal to take onboard an airplane in the UK. Always amazed what US authorities permit to be taken into the cabin of a domestic flight.
The family should be banned from flying ever again put them on a no fly list. Pepper Spray can be very painful. The teen should spend some time in juvenile hall. TSA should of checked the bag regardless if they are not sure. Bad behavior on aircraft needs to have consequences. Until it's made clear bad behavior will continue on airlines.
Thank you “Devil is in the Details” for being the first person who didn’t “bury the lead”. If racially motivated, that’s inexcusable. An accident? Be more careful and control your kids! The real Lead, for me, is how incredibly dangerous it is that someone got pepper spray past security! TSA etc. should conduct a full investigation into how it happened this time, and how to prevent future occurrences.
Could the TSA actually check for dangerous items rather than caring how big my bottle of shampoo is...
I was a passenger on this plane. This article captures fairly accurate what took place. Three people were escorted out of the plane not four but everything else is correct. Given what I witnessed, I don't think this was accidental. Hope this is investigated further. There were passengers recording the event. Get those videos!
I was also a passenger on this flight and was 1 row from the incident in row 28. I'm in touch with other passengers from that area and we're all frustrated with how the media is reporting this story and that AA and FAA are brushing this under the rug
Let me know if you'd like to connect
The family should be banned from flying for at least 5 years, all of them. If it was an act of their son, that's the price to pay for no correcting him.
I was flying from JFK- South America and heard them on the radio.
Would you be open to sharing what you heard? I was on the flight and am frustrated with how the media and AA and FAA are downplaying what happened.
Thanks in advance
Nice to know TSA is doing their job. Pepper spray is a banned item and the individual who scanned their luggage should be terminated and the family banned from flying.
TSA is a jobs program that fails 99% of their tests. If you fired every agent who missed contraband you'd have no one left.
Being familiar with SABRE formats...Greg Horner would be the AA STN MGR MIA who updated the FLIFO.
Thanks, BradStPete
I'm not familiar with how the ExpertFlyer notes work -- who is Greg Horner in the case?
And I was on this flight and seated by this incident. I'm so surprised there hasn't been a bigger report/ more information. It was a really scary
Thank you for covering it so quickly, OMAAT
At this point, the "evidence" suggesting this was racially motivated is just hearsay/ speculation at best. Could change with more substantiated claims, however there's nothing to suggest a racial component to this. All this is doing is getting in the way/ preventing actual change.
AMERICAN AIRLINES SHOULD BAN THEM FROM ALL FLIGHTS . THE ENTIRE CLAN, SOUNDS SO WELL PLANNED .THEY WERE FOOLS, NEVER LET THEM BOARD ANOTHER AIRCRAFT. CREEPS LIKE THAT CONTINUE , THEN THERE BECOMES FATALITIES !!!!!!
Ban that family from any future flights.
And *finally* create an industry-wide no-fly list to ban them from all the other carriers, too!
I'll say the same thing I say every time. Industry-wide no-fly lists need appeals and due process, and need to be managed by independent third parties. We don't need power tripping FAs playing judge, jury, and executioner.
Society gets dumber and dumber and no where is that more evident than air travel.
Don’t you just know before reading the article with a headline like that it involves a flight going to or coming from New York ?
What an ignorant comment…oh you mean any flight in or out of Florida?
I would have thought Florida as well. Though Philly wouldn’t have surprised me either… ;)
I instantly thought Florida or Texas...
A poorly article about an incident that sadly does not surprise me at all - idiocy is the epidemic that America should be concerned with. But then again how does recognise idiocy when they are most probably a victim of it themselves.
What's a "poorly article?"
You people in America need a healing circling, every living thing is racially motivated. This sounds like a teen doing dumb things teen does. This is why black people and white people in America will continue to be depressed and suppressed. Not everything is racial, we get it that you all are experiencing racial issues, but when you all come to our countries you band as brothers lol and when you go home you fight like dogs. It's very sad.
I suppose your country is one big happy family? Most countries have just as much racism as America. The difference is that we don't pretend it doesn't exist.
If no criminal charges, could be civil litigation from AA like flight diversion costs & landing fees at Jacksonville.
I understand teenagers are clueless (had my share of stupid pranks), but someone maybe held responsible.
An umbrella policy sure helps.
Some jail time will do them good.
Question. You published official notes and a name ( Greg Horner ) relating to an incident which seems to be internal. Moreover as you’re publishing in Europe you’re in breach of GDPR.
It infruriates ne no end when I see bloggers filming and photographing in flight and in the air with other passengers in frame. It’s mostly Americans who do this as they lack any understanding of privacy and legislation in other countries.
...Question. You published official notes and a name ( Greg Horner ) relating to an incident which seems to be internal. Moreover as you’re publishing in Europe you’re in breach of GDPR.
It infruriates ne no end when I see bloggers filming and photographing in flight and in the air with other passengers in frame. It’s mostly Americans who do this as they lack any understanding of privacy and legislation in other countries.
Pepper spray is a weapon which was discharged on an aircraft hence he assailant should be prosecuted.
What’s race got to do with it ?
Again, Americans always have to bring this up and refer to Italians and black. This implies Italians cannot be black.
The information is publicly available as part of the official flight documentation (see ExpertFlyer). Even if the individual were an EU citizen, I'm not sure why GDPR would constrain the publication of the name in the context of journalistic reporting of this public information.
I understand and agree with your concern about filming others in foreign countries with different privacy laws. Is it mostly Americans who lack any understanding of foreign privacy legislation, or is...
The information is publicly available as part of the official flight documentation (see ExpertFlyer). Even if the individual were an EU citizen, I'm not sure why GDPR would constrain the publication of the name in the context of journalistic reporting of this public information.
I understand and agree with your concern about filming others in foreign countries with different privacy laws. Is it mostly Americans who lack any understanding of foreign privacy legislation, or is your perception colored by the relative surplus of American tourists in Europe?
In this context, "Italian" refers to the ethnicity, not the citizenship. Of course there are black Italian citizens, but this isn't the point. Race may have nothing to do with it; however, whenever a white family is doing something malicious to a black family for no apparent reason, the natural concern is that there is a racist motivation to the action. Certainly, this may simply be a case of malicious, antisocial behavior with no racial animus. However, we (Americans) always have to bring this up because black families have historically been and continue to be subject to racial discrimination. As you may be aware, under US law, when a criminal targets a victim because of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, etc., this is classified as a "hate" crime, with liability for additional punishment. Whether you agree with this law or not, the point is that the race of perpetrator and victim are important for newswriting.
Well said.
I'm no expert, but I'm not sure how the GDPR, which largely governs how data supplied as part of a commercial transaction can be used would touch on the post. This happened in, and is being discussed on, American media.
There are some national oddities about reporting in Europe so that, in Germany for example, criminal suspects prior to conviction do not have their last names reported in the media. Not sure how...
Well said.
I'm no expert, but I'm not sure how the GDPR, which largely governs how data supplied as part of a commercial transaction can be used would touch on the post. This happened in, and is being discussed on, American media.
There are some national oddities about reporting in Europe so that, in Germany for example, criminal suspects prior to conviction do not have their last names reported in the media. Not sure how this applies outside of journalism (and this site has no pretentions to journalism, it just repeats unsubstantiated idle gossip) but no names have been reported.
Finally, aside from the release of property spray, absolutely none of the information discussed in this post is even unconvincingly established -- the Italians, the black family. It all stems from some unattributed quote.
That's highly debatable. He's publishing a US blog for a mostly US audience, and the data is being pulled from a US airline database. Is the processing really happening in the EU because that's where he (may have) typed it? I don't think most privacy professionals would agree with your assessment.
No privacy professional would agree with Icarus' ill-informed assessment. GDPR does not apply. People have no reasonable expectation of privacy on a commercial aircraft. He's wrong on all fronts.
I believe that's the name of the air traffic controller who handled the diversion, by the way.
as this flight happens in the usa, european law is irrelevant
I've purchased several small pepper sprays over the years. They last one is pink and resembles a lipstick tube. If it was similar, I can see how it could have been forgotten in the bottom of a bag, only to be discovered by a kid. I worried about just this scenario happening to me.
Sounds more like a stupid prank gone wrong than something racially motivated. If it really was the son it also makes sense that he tries to smuggle pepper spray on a plane. (Not excusing him but it's more believable)
@ gucky -- Agreed, it's definitely possible this was just a very stupid prank with no real motivation beyond that.
Hey Lucky, good read. What’s the source on that “official notes” screenshot from AA? Might be interesting to read for other flights.
@ Daniel -- This is pulled from ExpertFlyer's flight status page.
Ben I think you need to edit that “significant order “
@ Steve E -- Fixed, thanks!