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International Business Times
International Business Times

Flight Forced to Land After Texas Businessman Refuses to Stop Vaping

An American Airlines passenger plane taxis at Chicago O'Hare International airport in Chicago on Aug. 23, 2024. (Credit: DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)

Newly obtained footage from a flight that was forced to land because a Texas businessman refused to stop vaping, also shows him cursing out the flight attendants and using homophobic slurs.

The American Airlines Sept. 3 flight from Milwaukee to Dallas had to be diverted to Tulsa after Benjamin Kueng, 46, became infuriated after he was told to stop vaping on the flight.

Video obtained by the Daily Mail shows Kueng cursing repeatedly as flight attendants tried to talk to him. After the flight attendants walk away, Kueng is seen taking a video of himself.
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"We'll see what the f*** happens when we get off this f***ing plane, dude," Kueng says to the passenger next to him. Reports from the incident said that Kueng had been vaping in full view of those around him.

"If he was trying to hide it, he was doing a poor job," one passenger told the Daily Mail. "[The flight attendant] saw him do it, and it was two or three extra times. And so she came back and she said, 'I've alerted the captain that you're not complying.'"

Kueng reportedly accused the flight attendant of making false accusations, before allegedly chasing a crew member to the front gallery, as reported by PYOK. At this point several other passengers reportedly got up to help the flight attendants, and the pilots announced that they would be making an emergency landing in Oklahoma.

Once Kueng was back in his seat and as the decision was being announced, several passengers reportedly told the Daily Mail that Kueng issued several threats. He allegedly called another passenger a "b****" and "f** a** motherf***er."

Before the flight took off, some passengers reportedly said that Kueng had appeared drunk as they boarded the flight, and that he had been seen drinking at the airport prior to their departure. Some also said that Kueng was seen kicking the ankle of a passing elderly Asian man while asking a flight attendant for a pre-flight drink.

Upon landing in Tulsa, Kueng allegedly told airport security to "move out of my way," before being detained. He was booked into the Tulsa County Jail that night and was charged with one count of public intoxication and one count of obstructing a police officer. Keung paid his $600 bond and was allowed to leave the next morning.

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