Blind man goes nuts on Spirit flight, forcing divert

[derg]

So, question to the LEO and Airport Ops people here. What "rights"/ability do the airlines possess to keep a passenger inside the aircraft when it is parked on a ramp somewhere other than where you want to be?

Not many.

If I schedule a flight from Los Angeles to Florida and now I'm sitting on a ramp in Texas for 2 hours in an aircraft I no longer want to be in, what keeps me from saying "Eff you guys, I'm getting off!"? I know it would be stretching it a bit, but if one was denied the right to get off or out of the plane while it was sitting in Texas for no apparent reason, would that not be false-imprisonment?

Probably a Jetway.

I paid for the ticket to go from California to Florida, not Texas. Now you're making me sit in an non-airconditioned aircraft on the ramp in a different state I don't want to be in and you're telling me I can't get out?

Yup!

Change of scenarios: Like paying a taxi driver to take you 9 miles in the opposite direction, pulling over and shutting the car off and telling you that you can't get out. Except that you already paid him in full.

Not many (any?) freeways are located in a SIDA.

 

[MikeD]

Probably the guy found out about all the charges Spirit was making.......

 

[bike21]

My two pennies...

Dude is blind & old. Probably quite easy to restrain. Why not take the extra time to divert to a place your company has services?

The claim that they were without a/c is tough to believe. I know I'd have that sucker cranking and the Airbus APU usually does a pretty good job it seems. Something doesn't add up.