An alarming video has gone viral on social media after it captured the terrifying moments aboard an Alaska Airlines flight bound for Portland, Oregon from Oakland, California when a male flight attendant had to physically subdue an elderly male passenger who attacked a young woman seated in front of him by pulling and yanking her hair as hard as he could.

According to officials, Flight 2221 was scheduled to depart from the Portland International Airport bound for Oakland on Saturday, February 1st, when just before the flight took off, a male passenger experienced a ‘violent medical episode,’ and began attacking a female passenger for no definitive reason.

Male Flight Attendant Comes to Aid of Female Passenger by Punching Male Attacking Her

The terrifying attack raised concerns and commotion within the cabin, alerting flight crew members of the volatile situation. One particular male flight attendant rushed to the aid of the woman and began punching the male in the throat repeatedly to force him to release the woman’s hair that he had a tight grip on.

“Let go of her hair, sir!” another woman is heard calling out in the video posted on X on Feb. 1.

After several hard punches to the male passenger’s throat by the flight attendant, and with the help of another passenger prying his fingers from the woman’s hair, the woman was able to turn toward her attacker as her hair was released, with both anguish and fear visible on her face, before she swiftly left her seat to the safety of the cabin area.

The flight attendant, now seeing that the assaulted woman was free from the grip of her attacker, can be seen pushing the man’s head back into the seat to refrain him from going after her. The psychotic episode turns even more frightening when the male passenger begins to hyperventilate and scream loudly, prompting the exhausted male attendant to call out to those onboard the flight, “I need an able-bodied male to help me.”

Alaska Airlines Bans Violent Male Passenger For Attack on Woman, Other Passengers and Cabin Crew

The violent incident onboard Flight 2221 prompted cabin crew and pilots to immediately return to the gate at the Portland airport. Once there, the man was taken into custody and banned from the airline indefinitely.

Due to the nature of the incident, it was determined that the flight would be canceled after another flight attendant refused to continue onward on the flight due to being extremely unnerved by the entire incident, and another attendant could not be found to replace him.

“Our flight attendants’ highest responsibility is the safety of guests and crew on board,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement to the press. “Our flight attendants’ highest responsibility is the safety of guests and crew on board,” it continued.

“Our crew responded to this chaotic situation quickly and kept all guests safe until law enforcement could intervene,” the airline said, adding that the “guest in question has been banned from Alaska and Horizon due to the nature of the physical assault”.

The passenger who shared the video that went viral on social media conveyed how chaotic and volatile the entire situation was, indicating the male passenger was “rocking back and forth and saying weird things,” before attacking the woman in front of him.

“A flight attendant was called then he grabbed the woman’s hair in front of him and wouldn’t let go, so the flight attendant started punching him in the throat,” the X user stated. “He was restrained for several minutes before being arrested. The flight was canceled after an attendant refused to fly and could not be replaced.”

Thankfully, the young woman, Erica Ramos, who endured the violent attack was not severely injured, but she has stated that the area where her hair was continuously yanked and pulled is swollen and sore, resulting in her having headaches for several days. However, the trauma from the incident has left her deeply shaken, but grateful to her rescuers for coming to her aid.

“The man was having a psychotic episode. He banged his head multiple times on my seat, briefly lost consciousness, then suddenly grabbed my hair close to the scalp.”

“Had I leaned forward, he could have pulled my hair out. I was afraid he was going to punch me in the head. I am thankful for the flight attendant and other passengers who stepped in to help,” she added.

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