A woman stripped naked and spent 25 minutes screaming and walking up and down the aisle on a US flight, forcing the plane to return to its gate.
A video of the woman aboard the Southwest Airlines flight to Phoenix has surfaced online. In the clip, she’s seen undressing and screaming in front of other passengers, including children.
The woman shouted, walked down the aisle and banged the cockpit door. She even abused the flight attendants and asked to be let off, eyewitnesses said.
NEW: Woman takes off all her clothes on a Southwest plane in Houston, demands to be let off.
The woman reportedly ran around the plane for 25 minutes “before action was taken” according to ABC 7.
After nearly half an hour, the plane finally made it back to the gate before the… pic.twitter.com/U0F0l4HEJJ
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 7, 2025
A female eyewitness, who chose to remain anonymous, described the “shocking” show to 12 News, saying, “It came as a complete surprise to everyone.”
“She started, like, jumping up and down, screaming at the top of her lungs,” she said, adding, “It was very evident that she was having a mental breakdown.”
Another traveller told KHOU-TV, “She turned toward us and stripped all her clothes off.”
The aircraft was headed to Phoenix, Arizona, after it took off from William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, on Monday.
One passenger reported that a worker covered the woman with a blanket after the flight returned to the gate at Houston’s Hobby Airport, but she took it off.
According to authorities, she was taken into custody and then to the NeuroPsychiatric Centre at the Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital in Houston for a medical assessment.
They said the offender was not being charged because of her overbearing conduct.
On Thursday, Southwest Airlines said that Flight 733 had returned to the gate because of a “Customer situation onboard.”
“Our Teams have reached out to Customers onboard the flight to apologize for the delay to their travels,” they added.
Earlier, a flight in Australia was abruptly forced to return shortly after takeoff after a guy raced through the cabin naked. The incident happened while the Virgin Australia flight was leaving Perth for Melbourne. The man was subsequently taken into custody.