A United Airlines B767-300ER similar to the one involved in the incident
Incident
Date
20 October 1995 (1995-10-20)
Summary
Air rage
Aircraft
Aircraft type
Boeing 767-300ER
Operator
United Airlines
Flight origin
Ministro Pistarini International Airport, Buenos Aires
Destination
John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York
United Airlines Flight 976 was a regularly scheduled flight from Ministro Pistarini International Airport in Buenos Aires to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on October 19-20, 1995. Upon landing, one passenger, Gerard Finneran, was arrested by the FBI and charged with interfering with a flight crew and threatening a flight attendant.
During the flight, Finneran, a Wall Street investment banker, had been refused further alcoholic beverages when cabin crew determined he was intoxicated. After they thwarted his attempt to pour himself more, Finneran threatened one flight attendant with violence and attacked another one. He then went into the first-class compartment, which was also carrying Portuguese president Mário Soares and Argentinian foreign minister Guido di Tella and their security details. There, he climbed on a service trolley and defecated, using linen napkins to wipe himself, and later tracked and smeared his feces around the cabin.[1]
Food service was canceled due to the unsanitary conditions and the crew sprayed perfume all over the cabin instead to suppress the smell of the feces. The pilots tried to divert to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but were refused since the presence of foreign dignitaries on board created a security risk. Finneran had by then calmed down and returned to his seat.
Finneran's attorneys claimed he had been suffering from a severe case of traveler's diarrhea and had been prevented from using the first-class toilet to his seat just outside that section by Soares's security. He pleaded guilty and was fined $5,000, with two years' probation; he had also agreed to perform community service and pay $48,000 to reimburse United's cleanup costs and the other passengers for their airfare.[2] The incident has been recalled as the worst case of air rage ever.[3][4]
^Stasi, Linda (November 2, 1995). "Boorish biz flier rode no class". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
^Borg, Gary (May 15, 1996). "Unruly Air Passenger Gets Fine, Probation". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
^Reed, Dan (February 5, 2015). "Conrad Hilton III's Meltdown at 35,000 Feet Renews Talk Of The Perplexing Phenomenon of Air Rage". Forbes. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
^Frauenfelder, Mark (November 25, 2015). ""Worst ever" air rage passenger jailed for drunken rampage". Boing Boing. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
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