Flyers Freak Out Over Being Denied Cigarettes, Champagne

In two separate incidents that both happened Saturday
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 12, 2017 8:48 AM CST
Blocked From Smoking, Flier Threatened to 'Kill Everybody'
Valerie Curbelo   (Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department via AP)

It was an eventful weekend for some airline passengers, who had to deal with outbursts over champagne—and threats against their lives. First to Sacramento, where a woman was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight that arrived from Portland on Saturday, reports KOIN. Officials say the woman tampered with a smoke detector and lit up in the plane's bathroom. Told to return to her seat, the woman was then seen on a video, shouting, "I will kill everybody on this f------ plane." The man who recorded the video says the women also pushed a flight attendant and had to be physically restrained, per CBS Sacramento.

When the flight landed, Valerie Curbelo, 24, was arrested and charged with making criminal threats. She later blamed "anxiety" for her actions, per CBS. Meanwhile, a 44-year-old Swiss woman aboard a flight from Moscow to Zurich caused an unscheduled stop Saturday when she was denied champagne. The business-class passenger became aggressive when she was told flight attendants would stop filling her glass, reports the AP. The plane eventually had to land in Stuttgart, Germany. The unnamed woman was hit with a nearly $6,000 fine. Officials say the unplanned stop likely cost tens of thousands of dollars more. (This plane had to divert hundreds of miles because flyers had to "go really bad.")

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