A United Airlines passenger angry that his flight was canceled was banned by the carrier and arrested after punching a gate agent.
On Thursday, Christopher Crittenden, 54, of Frederick, Maryland, was incensed over disruption to his travel plans at Dulles International Airport, according to Washington’s WTTG.
After a gate agent blocked him from going any farther as another flight deboarded, he said, “I’m done with this [expletive]” and punched the agent, according to another District of Columbia station, WUSA.
Mr. Crittenden was purportedly angry at the delay after his first flight was canceled and another flight that would have taken him where he needed to go was fully booked. His violence came even though he had secured a seat on a third flight, an unnamed witness told TMZ.
He was subsequently arrested and charged with assault and disorderly conduct, police with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority told WJLA-TV. The MWAA fire and rescue team took the gate agent, unnamed publicly by authorities, to a local hospital for treatment.
United Airlines confirmed to WUSA that Mr. Crittenden has been banned from all of its future flights. Officials with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Works that represents the gate agent denounced the fracas.
“This latest incident is yet another example of the unacceptable rise in violence against frontline airline workers, and immediate action is needed to address it. … There have been minimal legal repercussions for offending passengers. … As long as these violent incidents persist, the IAM will not stop advocating for real enforcement of laws that protect airline employees,” IAM President Brian Bryant and IAM Air Transport Territory General Vice President Richie Johnsen said in a statement.
There have been 276 reports of unruly passengers in 2025, according to Federal Aviation Administration data. More than 2,000 such incidents came in each of the past three years.
