A Frontier Airlines flight from San Juan to Chicago was diverted to Miami on Sunday after a passenger tried to open the door mid-flight and the crew reported a disturbance. Flight 3345 landed safely at Miami International Airport around 11:55 p.m. ET, and law enforcement removed the passenger before the plane continued on to Chicago a few hours later.
The flight was already well into its trip to Chicago O'Hare International Airport when the disruption forced a change in course. That made the diversion the key event for everyone on board, turning a routine overnight route into a law enforcement response on the ground in Miami and a delayed arrival for travelers headed to Illinois.
Frontier said the passenger became disruptive before the plane was diverted. The FAA described the episode as a passenger disturbance, while the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office said flight attendants and other passengers told them the man tried to open the exit doors and said he wanted to get off the plane. He also went to the front of the aircraft and tried to get into the pilot's cabin, according to police.
What happened in the cabin was more than a moment of agitation. Police said flight attendants tried multiple times to get the man back to his seat, then moved him to a different row. An off-duty flight attendant volunteered to sit with him on the aisle, and when that attendant got up to use the bathroom, police said the man tried to grab the attendant's bag, attacked him and tried to choke him. Other passengers stepped in, and eventually flight attendants and passengers were able to restrain him.
The man was arrested after the flight landed in Miami, and the FBI interviewed him afterward. The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office charged him with one misdemeanor count of battery. The one detail that still has no explanation is what set off the confrontation in the first place, even as the flight's path, the restraint effort and the arrest are all clear.
