A Delta Air Lines flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Atlanta was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Dublin, Ireland, on Wednesday morning to drop off an unruly passenger who had started causing a commotion shortly after takeoff.
Delta flight DL83 departed Paris around 20 minutes late at around 9:15 am on November 27 for what should have been a relatively short nine hour transatlantic crossing to Delta’s hub in Atlanta.
Just an hour and a half into the flight, however, the pilots of the Airbus A330 made an abrupt turn towards Ireland and headed straight to Dublin Airport, where airport police were waiting to meet the plane.
The aircraft was also met by airport fire trucks – a move that was described as a ‘precaution’ given the fact that the plane would be making an overweight landing because there was still so much fuel onboard.
Witnesses described seeing the suspect being led off the plane by Irish police before the plane ended up sitting on the ground for some time before it could continue its journey to Atlanta.
Passengers say they feared the flight would be scrapped altogether due to the risk of the crew ‘running out of hours’, although in the end, the flight departed Dublin at 12:15 pm.
By this time, however, the food from the first meal service had been wasted, and flight attendants had to make the best of the situation by offering passengers a small pre-arrival snack as their main meal.
In a statement, the Irish Gardai confirmed that the unruly passenger had already been charged and was due to appear in court.
“Gardaí have charged a man (30s) who was arrested following an incident on board an aircraft which diverted to Dublin Airport today, Wednesday, 27th November 2024,” the statement explained. “The man was due to appear at Dublin District Court at the Criminal Courts of Justice this afternoon.”
“As this matter is now before the courts An Garda Síochána has no further comment.”
A spokesperson for Delta said the airline has “zero tolerance for unruly behavior and will work with law enforcement authorities to that end.” A statement from the carrier continued: “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travel.”
