First-class passenger’s violent outburst at MSP about overhead bin lands her in jail, charges say

A passenger’s physical confrontations with a Delta Air Lines employee on a jet at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and with an arresting officer moments later led to her having a bumpy landing — in jail.

These are the allegations outlined in a criminal complaint filed Monday in Hennepin County District Court against 45-year-old Priya Swaminathan of San Jose, Calif.

The confrontation Sunday night on the jet parked at a Terminal 1 gate centered on her finding no room in any overhead bin for her bags ahead of takeoff for San Francisco and resulted in a gross-misdemeanor charge of obstructing the legal process with force and three misdemeanor charges: fifth-degree assault, disorderly conduct and interference with flight operations.

Swaminathan, a civil litigation and civil rights attorney, told the Minnesota Star Tribune on Wednesday that on the advice of legal counsel, “I don’t have a comment at this time.”

In a report issued in August, the U.S. Department of Transportation said that incidents of unruly passengers in the country have declined sharply since record highs in 2021, “but unacceptable behavior continues to occur.” 

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there were 5,973 “unruly passenger incidents” reported in 2021. The annual tally plummeted to 2,455 in 2022 and has leveled off to 2,076 in 2023 and 2,102 in 2024.

In the first five months of this year, the FAA said it has received 672 reports of passengers behaving badly.

According to the complaint:

Airport police were alerted about 9:45 p.m. to Swaminathan yelling at other passengers and assaulting a Delta employee. Swaminathan was refusing to put her bags in the overhead compartment as instructed by the flight crew.

The bins soon filled up as the time for takeoff neared, and Swaminathan was then told she had to check her bags.

Swaminathan “became angry and started yelling while pacing up and down the aisle and screaming at other passengers,” the complaint read.

A Delta customer service agent tried to rationalize with Swaminathan, but the passenger “charged at her and pushed her with both hands in the chest,” and refused to get off the plane, the complaint continued.

Officers arrived at the first-class section of the plane, and after a brief amount of resistance, Swaminathan was handcuffed. The officers detected obvious signs she was intoxicated.

But as she was being led off the plane, Swaminathan refused to walk and “began to flail her body and kicked herself free from [an officer’s] grasp,” the charges read.

At one point during her struggle, Swaminathan kicked an officer and nearly sent him down jetway stairs.

Undaunted once in the squad car, Swaminathan wriggled one hand free of the handcuffs and unbuckled her seat belt. Police eventually got her to the Hennepin County jail, where she was booked about 11:15 p.m.

Swaminathan posted bond Monday and is due in court June 16.