Posted on 08/10/2026 11:29:03 AM PDT by Signalman
An Alaska Airlines flight bound for Seattle was forced back to the gate Sunday evening after two unruly passengers allegedly threatened to seize control of the aircraft, prompting the crew to trigger a cockpit lockdown and call for law enforcement.
The Boeing 737 had pushed back from the gate at Miami International Airport and was taxiing for departure around 6:40 p.m. when the situation escalated.
According to air traffic control audio obtained by ATCapp, the pilot alerted controllers that the crew was responding to a serious onboard disturbance.
“Ramp, Alaska 305, we have set the parking brake and we have a customer disturbance onboard right now, with threats coming from customers,” the pilot said.
“We want to go into a lockdown protocol. We are shutting down the engine and parking brake set.”
Cockpit lockdown procedures are designed to protect the flight deck whenever its security may be at risk, with pilots keeping the cockpit door sealed until the threat has been resolved.
Moments later, the pilot provided a more alarming update.
“The flight attendants have received threats from customers onboard the aircraft. The last thing we heard from the flight attendant is that we had a customer threaten to take the aircraft over.”
When air traffic control asked whether police were needed, the pilot replied: “Absolutely.”
Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Airport District deputies responded after the aircraft returned to the gate. Passengers were temporarily taken off the plane while authorities investigated the reported threats.
“This evening at approximately 6.40pm, Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Airport District deputies responded to one of the gates at Miami International Airport after a flight attendant reported possible suspicious activity,” the sheriff’s office told travel outlet Paddle Your Own Kanoo.
“Out of an abundance of caution, passengers were temporarily deplaned while deputies investigated the incident.”
Investigators ultimately determined there was “no credible threat,” according to the sheriff’s office. The two passengers involved were rebooked onto another flight, while Alaska Airlines worked to reaccommodate the remaining passengers after Flight 305 was canceled.
Alaska Airlines confirmed the disturbance stemmed from two disruptive passengers during the taxi phase of Flight 305.
“Two guests onboard Alaska Airlines flight 305 from Miami (MIA) to Seattle (SEA) were disruptive during the aircraft’s taxi.
“The aircraft returned to the gate, where it was met by law enforcement, and the passengers were removed and temporarily banned from flying with us.”
The airline added: “The safety of our guests and crew is always our highest priority.
“We appreciate our employees’ professionalism and apologize to our guests for the delay and inconvenience.”
Flight tracking data shows Alaska later scheduled Flight 305 to depart Monday evening after Sunday’s flight was canceled.
The incident comes as reports of disruptive airline passengers remain well below the record levels seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Federal Aviation Administration has logged more than 1,000 unruly passenger incidents so far in 2026, far below the record 5,973 cases reported in 2021, when many confrontations were tied to federal face mask requirements.
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And, Randy and Gilbert would be in JAIL!
My thoughts too. How could someone threaten hijacking and then just get put on another flight and told to have a good evening?
ONLY TEMPORARILY BANNED???
WHY NOT LIFETIME BANNED FROM ANY AIRLINE FLIGHT?
I’m glad you’re not a cop… you seem pretty quick to lock people up. How do you know what these guys really said. Did they threaten to hijack the flight, or did the flight have a drama queen flight attendant? In my experience there is no shortage of the latter. Apparently they did not make a threat or the cops would have cuffed them. Airport police don’t f—— around. It looks like the real cops saw no reason to hold them.
Black people stuff. The video will show up on my frequently visited unsavory sites soon enough.
No names, arrests, ddn’t do nuffin? WTH?
Friends just returned from a trip and said they will never fly again. I told them they are slow to catch on.
My thoughts too. How could someone threaten hijacking and then just get put on another flight and told to have a good evening?
UNREAL!!!
No credible threat?! And rebooked the perps on another flight?!
Oh, everyone should feel better about this, now ... the two perps were ‘TEMPORARILY BANNED’ from flying Alaska Air.
🙄
Zero indication in the article as to what started it.
Headline makes it sound like someone stood up and said "I'm taking this plane to cuba!"
The reality is probably that a couple of drunks were too loud and said something they should not have to a steward/stewardess who tried to shut them up.
There’s something odd about this article. Most of the references were to the passengers getting unruly. The pilot was suggesting that they threatened to take over the flight. There is a big difference between getting unruly (which I agree is should not be tolerated) and threatening to take over a flight.
My suspicion is that they blew it out of proportion in order to get the ‘unruly’ passengers remove with extreme prejudice, but it’s hard to tell with such a vague article
I have a distinct memory from the hijacking era of the 1970s of a song about a guy named "Jack" who was spotted by an acquaintance on a plane, who exclaimed "Hi, Jack" and caused the Federal Sky Marshal to pistol whip poor jack, who wished he had been given another name, even Sue.
Which makes me think Johnny Cash sang the song, but Google can't find such a song at all.
welp, great way to get arrested by the feds.
No name, no description, no “all-three-names-used (see Janet Reno's emphasis for weeks on “Eric Robert Rudolph” being the suspect for the Atlanta bomb scare.)
My bet is that the two are members of a protected race, class, gender, or sex.
Any videos yet? It’s hard to act like a complete idiot on the plane without at least a dozen people pulling out their phones.
And maybe the FA took things a bit too far.
Last time that happened on a flight we were aboard, the guy in the row ahead of us told the flighty; “It feels like my grandmother’s living room in here. Can we get some air conditioning please?”
Laughter ensued
P
Kind of sounds like flight attendants were being more dramatic than the actual incident or they would be in FBI custody.
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