HOUSTON, Texas — A Southwest flight bound for Phoenix Monday afternoon failed to make it far from the gate at Hobby AIrport before passengers say a woman suddenly got up and undressed.
“She turned toward us and stripped all of her clothes off, ” said a fellow passenger who didn’t want to be identified for personal reasons.
She said the woman removed everything from her hat to her shoes before walking up and down the aisle and demanding to be let out.
“She then proceeded to make her way back toward the front of the plane and started banging on the cockpit doors asking to be let in and she was screaming,” said the passenger. “When it first happened, it was really scary.”
“She was screaming “let me out, let me out.” Passengers tell me this woman ⤵️ also tried to get into the cockpit after stripping on a flight bound for Phoenix from Houston Hobby. What happened next + what to do if something like this erupts on your flight: @KHOU at 5:00 #khou11pic.twitter.com/xvUberbjGy
— Jason Miles (@JMilesKHOU) March 4, 2025
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, unruly passenger incidents that airline crews report to the agency have leveled off since a dramatic spike in 2021 but still exceeded 2000 incidents last year.
Advice if you’re ever on a flight with an unruly passenger is to remain calm and move away, if possible, and only intervene if requested by the flight crew, which never happened in this latest case.
“It was very weird that nobody kind of intervened,” said the passenger. “Everyone kind of recognized, I think, the situation and let her run on and on.”
We’re told a gate agent wrapped the woman in a blanket upon the flight’s return before you can see her dart toward the jetway in video shared with us.
Southwest offered this statement:
“Local law enforcement met Flight 733 from Houston to Phoenix Monday afternoon after it returned to the gate because of a Customer situation onboard. We apologize to our Customers for the delay in their travels and appreciate their patience as our Teams worked to get them to their destinations as quickly as possible.”
HPD says no charges were filed, and the passenger was transported for a medical evaluation.