Another day in the skies, another unruly passenger taken into custody on the ground. This week, a flight that landed at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport took a detour in Idaho for one such incident.
According to the Idaho Statesman, the Boise Police Department said it was notified that a flight would be making an emergency landing at Boise Airport at around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday because a passenger had allegedly assaulted two airline employees on the plane. Fox News identified the passenger as 61-year-old Tracy Barkhimer of Washington state.
Barkhimer was “showing erratic behavior and struck two airline employees who were trying to calm her down,” police told the Idaho Statesman in an email. Her flight was Alaska Airlines flight 1057 headed to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport from Portland International Airport, according to the airline as cited by the Idaho Statesman.
After the flight landed in Boise, the two airline employees who Barkhimer allegedly assaulted signed affidavits for a citizen’s arrest. She was then removed from the plane without incident and booked into the Ada County Jail on suspicion of misdemeanor battery.
This detour delayed the flight by around 90 minutes, according to Alaska Airlines. It eventually took off again at 3:43 a.m. and made its landing at DFW airport, per FlightAware.
Alaska Airlines also said that Barkhimer has been banned from flying with the airline in the future.
“At Alaska Airlines, safety is our number one priority, and we do not tolerate violence of any kind against our employees,” it said. “We are grateful to our crew for their professionalism, and we apologize for any concern or inconvenience this situation caused.”
Following a peak of nearly 6,000 unruly passenger incidents in 2021, these reports are still higher than the years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, based on data from the Federal Aviation Administration. From Jan. 1 through Sept. 28, of this year, there were 1,205 unruly passenger reports. Last month, Audacy reported on a woman duct-taped into her seat for unruly behavior.