The recent Alaska Airlines incident — or should we say incidents — may have reinforced why aircraft doors are best left closed at 50,000 feet, yet one American Airlines passenger failed to get the memo, attempting to bust open the emergency exit moments after takeoff.


On Tuesday, a flight headed from Albuquerque to Chicago was forced to turn around after an unruly, unidentified guest decided to make a midair break for it, a decision that didn’t sit well with his fellow passengers. “He was sitting at the emergency exit, and he cracked open the window that was protecting the handle. He ripped down the handle, where it exposed some of the emergency exit and all the wind came rushing down,” Emma Ritz, who was aboard the flight, told local news outlet KOAT.




Yet instead of waiting for the flight crew to intervene, several travelers took matters into their own hands, duct taping the flighty fellow to his seat. “Thirty minutes after departing Albuquerque, I was shaken out of my Panda Express and tequila-induced stupor by a man trying to aggressively open the airplane door four rows back,” Barstool Sports personality @DonnieDoesWorld recalled of his involvement in the now-viral incident. “Me and five other dudes had to wrestle him into the aisle, duct tape his legs and throw flexi-cuffs on him.”




These makeshift restraints worked, and once the plane made its way back to the Albuquerque airport, the near door-opener was handed over to the authorities. The flight was rescheduled for the next day.




The lesson here: Always fly with a roll of duct tape — it’s good for unruly passengers and decrepit aircraft.