- Former flight attendant Ann Hood describes the scene that led to restraining a passenger on board.
- When he was told there was no lasagna dinner option left, a passenger started banging the overhead lighting unit.
- Extensive training kicks in when a flight attendant is confronted with a scary situation in flight.
For Ann Hood, being a young flight attendant in the '80s came with some bumps.
As she detailed in her memoir, "Fly Girl," she had to undergo weight checks, fend off unwanted advances from male passengers, and even restrain an unruly traveler — all over a plate of lasagna.
At 24, Hood was three years into her job as a TWA flight attendant in 1982. She was serving dinner a routine San Francisco to New York City route when it turned into a serious food fight.
While slinging two options to passengers — short ribs and lasagna — Hood ran out of the hearty Italian entrée, as she wrote in her memoir, which was released May 3.
"Inevitably, we'd run out of one of the options and sometimes a passenger got truly angry when that happened," she wrote, adding: "When I reached row 45, I had run out of lasagna."
In this particular situation, Hood wrote, she would either slide the remaining option onto the passenger's tray without explanation or offer them a complimentary cocktail if they genuinely seemed disappointed.
But this passenger rejected both options, and became aggressive.
After shouting, "I want the lasagna," according to Hood, the passenger repeated, "I. Want. The. Lasagna."
Former flight attendant Ann Hood said her extensive training kicked in
Hood relied on her extensive training to placate the irritated passenger. According to her account in "Fly Girl," she replied: "I'm so sorry, sir. We're out of lasagna. But I'd love to give you a wine or cocktail on the house?"
But it wasn't enough to stop the passenger's meltdown.
"Just like that he was banging the overhead lighting unit and screaming: 'I want the lasagna! I want the lasagna!'" Hood wrote. She added that he was hitting the unit "so hard that the overhead compartment above his seat popped open and the lighting unit broke off, dangling by a few wires."
The scene happened in the blink of an eye, Hood told Insider. "He hadn't been a troublesome passenger," she said. "In a split second, his eyes got wild, big, and he starts breaking stuff on the plane."
Scared for her personal safety, and safety of others on the flight, Hood believed the passenger was a loose cannon. "He went berserk, and had a total meltdown," she said, adding that "he was out of control."
She and the crew sprung into action to contain the quickly escalating situation.
It was the only time in her career when restraints were needed
"Two male flight attendants reached us first, one of them with the restraints we kept on board — another item I never thought I'd actually have to use," Hood wrote in her book.
When the captain arrived at the scene, Hood wrote, he decided against diverting the plane and having the passenger removed. Instead, the flight continued onto its destination, John F. Kennedy International Airport, where police would meet the plane upon landing.
On the ground, Hood was asked to provide a statement to police as the rogue passenger was removed by police in handcuffs.
When he heard what provoked the unruly passenger, according to Hood, the captain remarked: "All of that over the lasagna?"
During her seven-year career as a flight attendant, Hood said she never had to whip out restraints on another passenger.
"I've never had to use restraints before — or again, actually — but you knew that's what you do in this situation. You don't check the manual," Hood told Insider, adding that cabin crew are "so trained" for moments like this.
As for the fate of the passenger, Hood said that was unknown to her. "It's another story I don't know the end to, but it's a federal offense to damage an aircraft," she said.
Decades later, cabin crew members are still dealing with unruly passengers — especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Flight attendants have had to deescalate numerous situations on board over the past two years, fueled by a tense political climate.
According to Federal Aviation Administration data, 2021 was the worst year on record with 5,981 reports of unruly passenger incidents. The FAA said it proposed $5 million in fines against unruly passengers.
These measures may be working: As of May 31, 2022, the agency reported 1,443 unruly passenger reports so far this year.