Flight to Phoenix delayed by passenger stripping naked, yelling at crew

HOUSTON — Passengers on a flight to Phoenix faced an unexpected delay when a woman on the plane stripped completely naked.

Video taken on Monday by one of the passengers shows the the incident unfold on the packed flight.

“It was very uncomfortable and really scary,” said one passenger who asked to remain anonymous. 

RELATED: Unruly passenger strips and disrupts flight bound for Phoenix, passengers say

It happened on a Southwest flight from Houston to Phoenix. Two passengers who live in Phoenix and were on the plane when the incident happened tell 12News the aircraft had just started taxiing when the woman, while fully clothed, walked to the front of the plane and started yelling.

 “I do remember her saying that she wanted to get off the flight,” said another passenger who wished to stay anonymous.

That same passenger said the woman yelled that she was bi-polar and began hitting parts of the plane. 

“She started, like, jumping up and down, screaming at the top of her lungs,” they said.

As the plane continued to move, that’s when video shows the woman start to undress herself. Video shows her walking up and down the aisle in front of all the passengers including several children one passenger said.

“It was so shocking and, you know, it came to a complete surprise to everyone,” a passenger said. “It was very evident that she was having a mental breakdown.”

People on the flight said they tried to remain calm and not pay attention to what was happening. Then at one point during the incident, one passenger said the naked woman went after a flight attendant.

“She, like, put her whole body onto the woman flight attendant, and was rubbing all over her,” she said.

The aircraft then returned back to the gate. When the door opened, another airline worker boarded the plane and covered the woman with a blanket. The video then shows the woman run through the open door.

“The lady just runs out of the airplane, and who knows where she went,” a passenger said.

A spokesperson with the Houston Police Department said that the woman was detained and taken to the hospital for a medical evaluation. The spokesperson also said the woman is not facing any charges at this time which had some flyers surprised.

“Considering that she got naked in front of a bunch of kids and anyone else,” she said.

The flight was delayed for just more than an hour before it was able to take off for Phoenix. Southwest Airlines sent 12News the following statement regarding the incident:

“Local law enforcement met Flight 733 from Houston to Phoenix Monday afternoon after it returned to the gate because of a Customer situation onboard. We’ve reached out to Customers to apologize for the delay and appreciate their patience as our Teams worked to get them to their destinations as quickly as possible.” 

The Federal Aviation Administration tracks unruly passengers who cause disturbances on flights. In 2021, there were close to 6,000 reported incidents. Since then, those numbers have dropped significantly to about 2,100 in 2024. However, those numbers are still higher than what was reported before the COVID-19 pandemic with about 1,600 incidents in 2019.

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