“All I Want is Lifetime Exec. Platinum” – Mets Right-Hander Hawkins for Subduing Passenger

by Adam Last updated October 31, 2013

American Airlines flight 945 from Dallas (DFW) to Santiago, Chile (SCL) made an unscheduled stop on Monday night in Lima, Peru (LIM) to escort a unruly passenger off the plane. It all started when an economy passenger decided he wanted to sit in an unoccupied business seat and could not understand why he couldn’t “take his own upgrade” as the flight was already in the air. When the flight attendant refused, a fight broke out right in front of NY Mets right-hander LaTroy Hawkins. As per Newsday‘s interview with Hawkins:

“I saw that this guy kept coming up to the front, but I didn’t think anything of it. “They get to tussling and land in my lap,” Hawkins said. “Knocked over my ice cream sundae, knocked over the wine, everything all over me. I jump up, we grab his arm, I had one arm in the air and my knee in his back trying to keep him down because he keeps trying to move.” Hawkins used zip ties to restrain the passenger’s hands and feet. But sometime later, with most of the cabin asleep, Hawkins said the man got free from the restraints and caused another disturbance. This time Hawkins’ friends intervened first. Rodney Carter and Leonard Whittenberg subdued the passenger. Hawkins helped to again apply zip ties and tape. The second incident prompted a 4:16 a.m. emergency landing in Lima, Peru, where the troublesome passenger was taken into custody. Said Hawkins: “All we want from American Airlines is executive platinum for life.”

American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller confirmed two passengers on board Flight 945 from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Santiago, Chile, assisted flight attendants in escorting an “unruly” passenger from the plane. The flight took off from Dallas at 9:45 p.m. CT Sunday and made the unscheduled stop in Lima, Peru, at 4 a.m. Monday, Miller said. “They were noncompliant, unruly, which happens on occasion,” Miller said about the passenger removed from the flight. “And when it does, sometimes we’ll divert a flight. For the safety of everybody on board, it’s much easier just to get that individual off the plane. And that’s what we did and turned it over to local law enforcement, and then the flight continued on.”

No word on that Executive Platinum status…

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Adam

Adam is the proud Founder and CEO of both Point Me to the Plane and point.me. An international consultant turned TV programming strategist, Adam currently works full-time on both websites. His obsession with points and miles dates back to his freshman year at college. After browsing Flyertalk and Mileage Workshop, Adam pulled the trigger and signed up for his first Citibank AAdvantage credit card and MCI phone line (yes, landlines still existed). Back then, both deals were churnable and in no time at all, the college freshman had enough miles to travel to Europe and Asia in First Class for free, multiple times. Needless to say, he was hooked! Fast forward a few years and Adam of course ended up in a career with a heavy travel requirement…which meant extra miles for awards! As his colleagues and friends started to hear about and see pictures from his trips, they wanted in on the secret and Adam began to assist them with their bookings, Juicy Miles was born. At the same time, Adam started an email newsletter to prevent those less obsessed co-workers from squandering their point collection opportunities. The bi-weekly email covered everything from upcoming promotions, guidance on maximizing points, and redemption advice. The distribution quickly expanded outside the office and Point Me to the Plane became a BoardingArea blog.