Most in-flight emergencies have to do with weather, mechanical issues, or maybe someone with a dire medical need.
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However, this one involved something you might not even believe, and it’s damn near a scene out of a movie. What these women experienced on a flight back from a bachelorette might leave them and other passengers scarred from flying.
What Happened On This Frontier Flight?
In a viral video with over 1.3 million views, bride-to-be @_babyloba appears to have been returning from a bachelorette trip to Puerto Rico. She documented a chaotic emergency landing on her Frontier Flight 3345 from Puerto Rico to Chicago.
While it’s hard to understand what’s going on from the footage, the video shows commotion in the cabin. At one point a man appears to be on top of another passenger. However, what exactly is happening and why is difficult to make out.
One of @_babyloba’s friends is heard saying she’s nervous. Another jokes, “My mom’s never gonna let me out again.”
In the caption, @_babyloba explains that a passenger attempted to open the emergency exit door mid-flight. The panic in the cabin was immediate. The flight was diverted for an emergency landing in Miami. There, federal and local authorities were already on the ground waiting for the person.
“Once again we apologize for the whole inconvenience, these are things that happen, and we want to thank you for your understanding,” a flight attendant announced over the speaker. “Free drinks, free drinks.”
What Actually Happened
According to ABC7 New York, the passenger became disruptive about 45 minutes after the flight departed San Juan. He reportedly told flight attendants he wanted to get off the plane and tried to open an emergency exit door. When he was stopped, he moved to the front of the aircraft. There, he began shoving his shoulder against the cockpit door. Flight attendants ushered him away, and on the way back to his seat he attempted to urinate on the floor. He was moved to a new seat, and an off-duty flight attendant volunteered to sit in his row.
When that off-duty attendant stepped away to use the restroom, the passenger tried to grab his bag off the floor. When the attendant told him to stop and moved across the aisle, the passenger got on top of him and choked him by the head. Passengers and on-duty flight attendants worked together to restrain the passenger with flex cuffs—which he broke out of multiple times—and seatbelt extenders.
Help from passengers
One of those passengers was a Jiu-Jitsu instructor from Chicago.
“I knew that I could take care of it and handle it without him or anybody else getting injured,” the instructor told ABC7. “I was already ready for something to happen, so I instantly restrained him, put him in his row, laid him down, tied him up with a seatbelt.”
The FAA confirmed the flight was diverted and landed at Miami International Airport around 11:55 p.m. ET. The man was taken into custody by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office and turned over to the FBI. He has since been charged with interference with flight crew members. As well as assault within maritime and territorial jurisdiction—both federal charges. He has been appointed a public defender and has not yet entered a plea. Frontier Airlines said the flight continued to Chicago a few hours after landing.
The FAA has received 687 reports of unruly passengers so far this year. Just days before the Frontier incident, a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Minneapolis was diverted. This was after a passenger made multiple attempts to breach the cockpit.
Can You Actually Open An Emergency Door Mid-Flight?
Short answer: no. According to Travel + Leisure, American Airlines First Officer Steve Scheibner—who goes by Captain Steeeve on TikTok—says it’s physically impossible unless you’re capable of lifting 25,000 pounds.
Once a plane is pressurized in flight, the door is under nine pounds per square inch of pressure pushing outward, locking it in its frame. Most emergency exit doors also open inward, which makes the pressure working against you even worse. On top of the physics, most commercial aircraft automatically lock all cabin doors once the plane hits about 92 miles per hour, and they can’t be manually unlocked until the plane slows back down.
Why Was It Made This Way?
The FAA has required emergency exits to be designed this way since 1972, a direct response to the wave of hijackings in the late ’60s and early ’70s.
That said, people try anyway, and it happens more often than most passengers realize. An All Nippon Airways flight from Tokyo to Houston was diverted to Seattle after a passenger kept attempting to open emergency doors and had to be restrained with zip ties. An American Airlines passenger on a flight from Albuquerque to Chicago tried the same thing 20 minutes into their flight; the plane turned around and law enforcement was waiting. Another American Airlines passenger attempted it on a flight from Milwaukee to Dallas in 2024, injuring a flight attendant in the process and was charged with a federal crime carrying up to 20 years in prison.
At minimum, Travel + Leisure notes, attempting to open an emergency door mid-flight is a reliable way to land on the no-fly list.
There is at least one documented case where someone actually succeeded. In 2023, a passenger on an Asiana flight approaching Daegu, South Korea, opened the emergency door he was sitting next to while the plane was still more than 700 feet off the ground. The plane landed safely and no one was seriously injured, but 12 people were hospitalized for hyperventilation. Asiana subsequently stopped selling certain exit row seats on that aircraft type.
@_babyloba Flight 3345 took an Emergency landing in Miami last night due to an onboard incident. Passenger in the aircraft tried to open the emergency exit door in attempt to jump of the plane mid-flight. The level of panic in the cabin was immediate, but the flight crew acted fast! When landing federal and local authorities immediately waited for our landing. We are currently awaiting official updates from the airline regarding the investigation and our connecting travel. @Frontier Airlines #flight3344 #frontierairlines #frontier3345 #emergencylanding ♬ House featuring John Cale – Charli xcx & John Cale
People are shocked
“Ayeee but at least u in miamiiii,” a top comment read.
“A flight from P.R to Chicago is already a nightmare itself,” a person said.
“The amount of phones out taking videos and no urgency really shows how bad the earth is,” another wrote.
The Mary Sue reached out to @_babyloba for comment via email and Instagram direct message and to Frontier via email. We’ll be sure to update this if she responds.
