Unruly passenger restrained with flex cuffs, hospitalized after United flight lands at O'Hare

An unruly United Airlines passenger who was on the Chicago-bound flight from Tokyo was hospitalized after being removed from the aircraft. The United flight declared an emergency for the passenger on Wednesday afternoon, November 11. As per abc7chicago, the pilot declared a level 3 emergency, the second-highest one in the airline’s rulebook.

The outlet cited Chicago police and reported that the man was taken to a hospital for evaluation after the plane landed at O'Hare Airport. Flight Follower identified the aircraft as a United Flight 868 and posted an audio recording of the incident. The flight crew said in the audio that the unruly passenger was “restrained with flex cuffs,” and there were no law enforcement officials on the plane.

When air traffic controllers asked the crew to verify the threat classification, a crew member responded, “We are level three.” A ground controller said in the recording that they were in contact with law enforcement, but added, “I believe they’re still on their way.”



On the same day, a plane had to make an emergency landing at Chicago's O'Hare airport due to water flooding on the aircraft floor. A Frontier Airlines Flight 3566 was en route from Denver to Detroit when "the faucet in the forward lavatory sprung a leak, which caused water to flow along part of the aircraft floor," ABC7 Chicago quoted, citing airline officials.

What does a Level 3 threat mean?

As per a 2006 Federal Aviation Administration advisory circular, Level 3 was defined as life-threatening behavior. The FAA canceled the circular in December 2015; however, as per fish4news, it can be a historical guidance rather than current operating instructions. As per it, the four threat levels are:

• Level 1: disruptive, suspicious or threatening behavior.
• Level 2: physically abusive behavior.
• Level 3: life-threatening behavior.
• Level 4: attempted or actual breach of the flight deck.