Panic at 36,000 Feet as Passenger Tries to Open Plane Door and Attacks Traveler

A United Airlines flight from Newark to Guatemala City was forced to make an emergency landing Thursday night after an unruly passenger allegedly tried to open one of the plane’s doors at 36,000 feet and then assaulted another traveler.

United Flight 1551 had taken off from Newark Liberty International Airport at 6:46 p.m. with 145 passengers and six crew members on board. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 was supposed to make the roughly five-hour trip to Guatemala City.

Instead, the flight was diverted less than two hours later to Washington Dulles International Airport after chaos erupted midair.

According to air traffic control audio shared on social media, the crew reported that the passenger allegedly tried to open Door 2L while the aircraft was cruising at 36,000 feet.

“United 1551, they’re asking me what door did the passenger try to open?” a controller can be heard saying in the audio.

“Door 2L at 36,000 feet and then [the traveler] assaulted a fellow passenger,” the pilot responded, according to the recording.

When the controller asked whether anyone had been injured, the pilot said, “Not to our knowledge.”

The plane landed safely at Washington Dulles, where law enforcement officers were waiting.

A United Airlines spokesperson told The Post that the aircraft was “met by law enforcement to address an unruly passenger.”

The airline said the flight was canceled after the emergency landing. Passengers were given overnight accommodations, and a replacement flight was scheduled for Friday morning.

The frightening midair incident is the latest in a string of unruly passenger problems involving United Airlines.

Earlier this month, a passenger on a United flight from the Dominican Republic allegedly attacked a flight attendant and tried to rush the cockpit as the plane was landing at Newark.

The Federal Aviation Administration has warned that passengers who assault crew members can face steep penalties, with fines of up to $43,658.

According to FAA data cited in the report, there have been 608 unruly passenger reports so far this year. That compares to 1,621 last year and 2,096 in 2024.

The number was far higher in 2021, when air travel began roaring back after the early phase of the COVID pandemic. That year, the FAA received 5,973 unruly passenger reports, the highest total in the last decade.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority was contacted for comment.