B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 250; Flight Crew Total 7000; Flight Crew Type 900
Distraction; Communication Breakdown; Workload
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Security; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Misconduct
Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; General Police / Security Involved
Human Factors
A woman in first row of First Class escalated behavioral disruptions until she eventually became physical with flight attendants. She was restrained and handcuffed then reseated in the back of the aircraft adjacent an off duty Law Enforcement Officer for the remainder of the flight. During the altercation as it was continuing to escalate; the Captain and I had to make a command decision as to whether we should land or continue. Based upon how much the security situation escalated (now a Level 2) and screaming and kicking along the cockpit door; we decided to initiate a 180 turn back to nearest suitable international airport. The Captain delegated PF and ATC duties to me and he dedicated his attention to the cabin and to Dispatch (via Commercial Radio and ACARS). I obtained an ATC clearance (no special handling requested) to begin a turn toward the international divert airport (no descent requested; just clearance to get turned around). The Captain did the best he could to obtain real-time situation updates from the cabin. Nearing what would be top of descent we reconvened pilot communications between ourselves--I gave him an aircraft position/clearance update and he updated me with what was happening in back. The next decision we faced after assessing the real-time situation in the cabin was to determine our next destination. We considered many possibilities all with pro's and con's. Having not yet hit the Equal Time Point; our filed destination was clearly the farthest option requiring on-going monitoring and restraint of the passenger for an additional 3.5 hours. If we did the extreme opposite and landed directly below us we would have had to declare an emergency as we were still thousands of pounds over landing weight. But the nearby international airport was a solid option for Security Level 3 or 4. Being at Level 2 we decided best option was ZZZZ. Our departure airport was 2 hours flight time; we could get normal traffic handling; known law enforcement outcome; passenger accommodation handling and potential crew (re)staffing. These were all unknowns when considering landing at a third country being thrown into the mix. Dispatch pressed us to conduct another 180 degree turn and continue to our filed destination. We declined. Dispatch asked us to consider the nearby international airport and we declined unless he wanted us to declare an emergency (overweight). He then pressed us to get refueled in a second enroute airport; so we could continue to our filed destination. I calculated fuel from to the second airport and we had just enough fuel to get there with minimal reserves; however; the weather was unsatisfactory if we were to plan minimum FOD. While the second divert airport certainly would have worked as an adequate fuel stop; this proposal by Dispatch was not addressing the matter at hand: we needed to get this passenger off the aircraft. We did not have confidence in arriving at a third international destination; having authorities take the woman (if they were willing to take her) and to find out one of the 6 crewmembers could not continue to the filed destination for duty time or emotional reasons. Then we would have 124 passengers and crew clear customs in a foreign airport with an aircraft and crew out-of-position clearing customs in a country that potentially may not take certain passengers (just like Canada refuses entry for people with a DUI on their record; as an example.) The second divert option proposed by Dispatch exclusively centered on fuel matters; not based on security; customs; or duty considerations. Alas; Captain and I decidedly made commitment to return to the departure airport and communicated this to Dispatch; passengers and crew. We received direct clearances but did not request any special handling in order to achieve this direct routing. We were met at the gate by law enforcement and had no further issues with the disruptive passenger; nor her husband (who was also on the flight but didnot disrupt the flight himself) nor any problems with all the inconveniences passengers who also potentially could have started problems because of the ordeal they tolerated through the night just to end up back in at the departure airport.
B737 flight crew enroute to a foreign destination; decided to return to their departure airport due to an unruly aggressive passenger who had to be restrained and handcuffed.