A disruptive passenger was restrained with flexible handcuffs and duct-taped to a seat as his flight was diverted to make an emergency landing in Baltimore Thursday night, photos and video from other passengers showed.
Richard Olenick and Juan Mejia were more than halfway through the flight when a man two rows behind them in the first-class section started to become belligerent, Olenick said.
A flight attendant tried to control the situation but the man got increasingly agitated, started to hit the passenger next to him and then hit a woman who tried to intervene, Olenick said.
In my experience almost nobody is paying for the first class seats, they’re all frequent flyers who get upgraded there because they have status with the airline they fly on lots for work/business.
I’ll occasionally spend frequently flyer miles for a business class/first class domestic ticket. Buying tickets with frequently flyer miles is a bit different than paying with dollars. When paying in dollars, most everyone’s idea about the price difference between economy and first class is mostly accurate. In dollars, its double, triple, or even more for a first class ticket over economy. However with points (miles) its sometimes only 1.25x more for the first class ticket. Its not like you can spend airline miles on rent or groceries, so spending a bit more for a much more comfortable experience can be worth it. This is especially true if you only fly a few times a year and you’ll have enough points re-earned by the next time you need it for a ticket.
Fair point; the only justifiable reason to actually pay for it is if it’s a feeder for a long-haul first connection (many airlines don’t sell mixed-class bookings easily.)