Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Total 10869; Flight Crew Type 1578
Workload
Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Misconduct
General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Police / Security Involved
Human Factors
The lead flight attendant informed the flight deck that she had a passenger that was not complying with her instructions about a seat assignment (she needed to place a passenger in his row; to accommodate another seating issue) and was verbally abusive and non-compliant toward her. The passenger had already attempted to move himself to a business class seat and then insisted that the entire row in economy was his (even though he had only purchased one seat). The Captain asked her to keep us informed if she could not resolve the issue. A short period of time later; she returned stating that the passenger continued to be non-compliant and continued his verbal abuse which included cussing at other passengers. The Captain decided to confront the passenger personally and requested assistance [from] the gate agents. After genuine efforts to reason with the passenger; the Captain received the same non-compliant response and verbal abuse. The passenger refused to answer the Captain's questions and stated to the Captain he would have to 'drag' him off. And what was described to me as pleading/begging to be dragged off. At this point; we brought the [Operations Manager] into the loop and requested the local ground security to be notified. We declared a Threat Level One and reviewed that procedure.The [Operations Manager] was first questioning if we could attempt to reason with the passenger; we stated that that had already been attempted for over 30 minutes by the inflight crew; gate agents and the Captain. The Captain had already made the decision to remove him at this time because the passenger would not comply with his instructions and continued his verbal abuse to passengers around him. He was a clear safety threat; as well as at this point; surrounding passengers were not comfortable with him staying on the flight. This passenger knew exactly what to do (though I don't know if it was premeditated) he immediately used his new-found empowerment to tell the Captain he would not comply and basically begged; 'drag me off'. This is a provocation that cannot [be allowed to continue] in the future.The whole crew; agents and [Operations Manager] contemplated how to handle the situation and continued various attempts to instruct the passenger to leave the aircraft. The [Operations Manager] did not want to deplane the aircraft for fear of a further delay; but later agreed after discussions with local agents; it was the only option. In the meantime; the other passengers began to become extremely agitated and anxious. There were reports that some passenger offered to remove him and another woman came to the cockpit with her concerns of potential violence erupting and that she did not want her daughter to witness any more of the ordeal. As the onboard passengers became more agitated; more and more were leaving their seats to interject; observe and take photos and video. We received a report from a flight attendant that 'we were close to 'losing control' of the cabin'. An announcement was made for everyone to be seated and was successful. The plan was now to deplane everyone (and the local police wanted the flight attendants to deplane as well for their own safety) and then local police would remove him. The deplaning began and it was reported that the passenger kicked a girl and cussed at just about everyone as they left and many passengers had derogatory comments toward the passenger as they deplaned. Since the passenger kicked a girl during the deplaning; we declared Threat Level two. But again; we as a crew were helpless to remove him without some sort of physical act. He was able to do as he pleased because I feel he felt 'empowered' by [recent industry incidents]. Later in this process; after the police boarded the deplaned aircraft; the [Operations Manager] instructed us 'do not let the local police touch him'. As it turns out; I believe the local police were reluctant to physically remove him due to jurisdiction. The local police later produced paperwork that they requested the Captain to sign as a release for them to remove him. The [Operations Manager] informed the Captain to not sign anything. As time rolled on; and the situation continued to [escalate]; the passenger attempted to negotiate a deal with the gate agents. He demanded a boarding pass in his hands on another flight before he would voluntarily leave the aircraft. I felt at this point [the passenger was] basically holding the aircraft hostage with his empowerment; and attempting to negotiate a deal; would qualify as a hijacking and would require the situation to be considered Threat Level 4. The cockpit was not aware of this negotiation attempt until later; and the gate agents refused to honor his requests.Fortunately; after hours of this very tense situation; [a] Flight Attendant pleaded with him one last time; and his approach was effective and successful. He told the passenger; 'we are going nowhere; things are only going to get worse for you; just grab your bag and follow me'. Amazingly; the passenger decided to leave voluntarily. Though in his last act of defiance; he shoved [the flight attendant] as he left the airplane. Again; Threat Level Two. This is not a situation our flight crews; gate agents; customers; [company]; nor the industry should allow to continue or escalate.  This event was of grave safety concern to me and the other crew members in the aftermath. This is a safety issue that needs to be addressed and reviewed for future protocol. This event cannot be ignored in the best interest waiting for social media to die down; but I feel it is a situation that will continue and could escalate into a negative event for [our company] (which this one nearly did) and more importantly; a safety hazard for our crews and passengers.I would describe this event as basically an 'emergency' type event on the ground; however none of the SOP with the crew has been addressed toward that policy by the company.  But neither one has been addressed by Management to this date. The Captain did submit an IOR (Irregular Operations Report) and with this incident; maybe there will be a debrief and review; but I felt after the passenger was off the airplane; we may have too quickly resumed status quo with a recovery plan. This was a long and tense ordeal. I felt the crew did a tremendous job; though not easy; of re-focusing; re-boarding and operating the aircraft to an alternate station. This is what we are trained to do; but in cases like this one; where we don't have hind sighted guidance; we may want to assess our state of mind as crew members before we continue on in an immediate fashion.Also; I have no idea what this passenger did other than booking himself on a later flight and attempting to check-in. He violated US Federal laws; but I don't think anything will be done; which is a concern toward potential future events. I think something should be done toward procedures and protocol for an empowered passenger who chooses to refuse to follow direction or leave the aircraft on command. And who uses provocation of the crew and agents to physically remove them. For the concern of the future safety of our crews; passengers; and the goodwill of [the company]. Me personally; in hindsight and with the aftermath of finally returning home a day later; I felt the same feeling I would have if I handled a different serious aircraft emergency.
[Report narrative contained no additional information.]
Air Carrier flight crew reported a passenger misconduct issue delayed departure when the passenger refused to deplane voluntarily.