An out-of-control woman who had to be duct-taped to her seat after trying to open plane doors mid-flight has been hit with a massive fine.
She had to be secured and gaged on the the American Airlines plane after she allegedly attacked the crew on the Dallas to Charlotte trip.
Chaos erupted during the flight, which has been delayed by about three hours, as staff were forced to take swift action.
The passenger - who has not been named - faces a huge $81,950 (£62,380) fine. It is the largest ever handed out by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Her behaviour went viral after TikTok footage emerged of the woman being tied up during a flight from Dallas to Charlotte, in the US, on July 6 last year.
Flight attendants were seen rushing up and down the aisles on the night flight.
“Federal law prohibits interfering with aircraft crew or physically assaulting or threatening to physically assault aircraft crew or anyone else on an aircraft,” the agency said.
The TikTok user called Mathena claims the toilet doors were locked and that it was clear something was happening at the front of the plane.
She said: "It was about 1.30am and we see flight attendants running up and down the aisles, frantically, whispering to each other, talking on the phone with somebody and just frantic and everybody was 'ok, now we're alert, what's going on?'."
She added "the flight attendants weren't saying anything" and claimed they "randomly locked the bathrooms".
In the video she said: "It was chaos. No-one really knew what was going on."
Mathena, who has more than 3,700 followers on TikTok, added the pilot then used the intercom to ask everyone to stay in their seats and allegedly told passengers "we understand there's a bad situation on the plane right now and we're working on fixing it."
She added: "Gradually we heard more and more, someone screaming, we couldn't hear it before because the plane was so loud."
An American Airlines spokesperson said last year: “While in flight from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Charlotte (CLT) on July 6, the crew on board American Airlines flight 1774 reported a potential security concern after a customer attempted to open the forward boarding door and physically assaulted, bit and caused injury to a flight attendant."
They continued: "For the safety and security of other customers and our crew, the individual was restrained until the flight landed at CLT and could be met by law enforcement and emergency personnel."
