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American Airlines flight from Dallas to Nashville is delayed 8 hours after passenger was arrested for joking about having coronavirus
Daily Mail
March 16, 2020
Category: Health News
An American Airlines flight was delayed by eight hours after one of the passengers on board joked about having coronavirus.
The flight to Nashville from Dallas was delayed after a man refused to put away his seat's tray table before take off, claiming that he was suffering from the deadly virus.
After the passenger's claim triggered panic in the cabin the plane was boarded by police officers and authorities in protective hazmat suits who removed the man.
However the aircraft - set to depart at 6.30pm on Saturday evening - was delayed eight hours due to the drama after shaken up crew refused to work the flight.
Passenger Brandon Kenney told WKRN: 'People were freaked out because nobody knew what was going on - if he was actually sick or if he really didn't have coronavirus.'
'Right after he was escorted off the plane, one of the cops came back and kind of explained the situation to the people that were sitting near him and kind of spelled it out for us and told us not to worry about it and really was just talking about how he was joking about having the coronavirus.'
After a full crew was secured the plane finally arrived in Nashville at 4:40am Sunday, hours after its scheduled landing time of 8:40pm the night before.
Passenger Jason Halbert took to Twitter to share a short clip of the incident with the caption: 'On American Airlines flight trying to get home. DFW take off aborted due to man claiming Coronavirus. Hazmat came on. Removed man. Cops arrested man. People freaking out.'
The passenger responsible has not been identified.
American Airlines told WKRN that the man had been arrested for making the false claim but did not provide any further details.
On Friday an American Airlines pilot based at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport tested positive for coronavirus.
The airline company has not revealed whether the unnamed pilot flies international or domestic routes, nor when they last flew for American.
However, an official said they believe the risk of transmission to passengers is low, according to CNN.
'American's Chief Medical Officer and leaders from our pilots' office have been in touch with the pilot,' the company said in a statement.
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