A Florida woman, mad that a fellow passenger had bonked her on the head by reclining her seat, forced a packed flight out of La Guardia Airport to make an emergency landing Monday — and got away with it.
Unemployed Boca Raton resident Amy Fine got off without criminal charges — despite allegedly flailing her arms and shouting, “Put this plane down now!” at the crew of Delta Flight 2370, who inexplicably gave in to her demand to land the Palm Beach-bound flight.
The 32-year-old passenger — who had been sitting in a premium coach section with extra legroom — flipped out when she was bumped by the reclining seat, according to a police report. She had apparently been trying to sleep with her head on the tray table when the other passenger leaned back.
Fine allegedly flipped out, berating the woman as stunned fliers looked on.
“This woman sitting next to me knitting tried reclining her seat . . . The woman behind her started screaming and swearing,” witness Aaron Klipin told WPTV in West Palm Beach.
Fine focused her fury on crew members who tried to break up the fight.
“The flight attendant tried to clam Ms. Fine down,” the police report said. “The more they tried to calm her down, the more upset she became.”
Fine allegedly told the crew to “eat s- -t and die,” and demanded that the flight land immediately.
The flight attendants told Fine that landing was impossible. But Fine had other ideas and allegedly continued her tantrum. She waved her arms in the air and got “very combative” as she continued to demand that the flight touch down, according to the report.
Attendants alerted pilots as a crew member blocked the raging Fine from rushing the cockpit. The pilots decided to land because “they were concerned for the safety of themselves and the passengers,” the police report said.
The plane touched down 260 miles from Palm Beach, in Jacksonville, at 9:30 p.m.
Instead of hauling Fine off in handcuffs, cops and the FBI questioned the Brooklyn native and apparently bought her sob story about recently losing two dogs. They released her without charges.
The incident marks the third time in two weeks that passengers have gotten into brawls on US flights over legroom and reclining seats.