Florida Man Faces 10 Years in Prison For Repeatedly Punching American Airlines Gate Agent in the Face For Trying to Help Him

A Florida man faces the threat of being sent to prison for 10 years after pleading guilty to repeatedly punching an American Airlines gate agent in the face after he tried to board a flight at the wrong gate at Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) airport last October.

Keith Charles Owens, 53, will be sentenced in May after he reached a plea deal with prosecutors for a single charge of interference with security screening personnel. Along with a substantial prison sentence, Owens also faces being slammed with a fine of $250,000.

A criminal complaint filed in a Fort Worth courthouse alleged that on October 5, 2024, Owen turned up at the wrong gate for his flight, skipped the boarding line, and was turned away by the gate agent when his boarding pass failed to scan.

The gate agent directed Owens to the correct gate next door, which he immediately headed towards, once again skipping the boarding line and this time, also bypassing the podium and boarding pass check.

Owens managed to get as far as the jetway, where he was stopped by airline personnel and escorted back into the terminal building. Once there, surveillance camera footage captured Owens looking “visibly upset,” at one point, he aggressively approached an airline employee behind the ticket counter.

Having failed to get on his flight, Owen returned to the original gate, where he grabbed the gate agent who had tried to help him by his shoulders and neck and pushed him back.

Prosecutors alleged that Owens then repeatedly punched the victim in the face before passengers and other American Airlines staff rushed to drag him away and restrain him.

Owens was charged with interference with security screening personnel because scanning boarding passes is a security duty for American Airlines employees – a job that the gate agent was doing at the time he was assaulted.

The incident caused the flight that the gate agent was boarding to be delayed, while a number of airline employees had to go off work for several days due to injuries sustained in the assault.

Witnesses said that Owens appeared intoxicated at the time of the incident.