Delta flight diverted after passenger assaults flight attendant, air marshal and police say

A Delta flight to Los Angeles was diverted Thursday to Oklahoma after a passenger assaulted a flight attendant and an air marshal who intervened, officials said.

Flight 342 left Reagan Washington National Airport and landed at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, after the crew reported a passenger disturbance, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

A passenger on the flight became combative and assaulted a flight attendant, Oklahoma City Police Capt. Arthur Gregory said.

“An air marshal on board intervened, at which point the passenger assaulted the air marshal,” he said. “The air marshal was basically able to get them in custody.”

Police took the passenger, whose identity was not immediately released, off the plane, Gregory said.

Officials did not provide the conditions of the flight attendant and air marshal.

Delta said in a written statement that it “applauds the quick action and professionalism of the crew and Federal Air Marshals” on the flight that was diverted after the passenger “became unruly.”

The plane spent landed in Oklahoma at 7:30 p.m. and spent about an hour on the ground before resuming its flight to Los Angeles, Gregory said.

There has been an increase in disruptive passengers or violent assaults on planes this year which prompted an FAA “zero tolerance” policy put in place in January.

The FAA has slapped some passengers with tens of thousands of dollars in fines. In late November the agency proposed more than $161,800 in all in fines against eight passengers.

There have been more than 5,500 “unruly passenger reports” this year, with more than 3,900 mask-related incidents, according to the FAA.

In one attack on a flight attendant in October, a 20-year-old male passenger allegedly struck an attendant in the face and gave her a concussion.

In May, a woman on a Southwest Airlines fight punched a flight attendant, causing the attendant to lose two of her teeth, officials said.

Some passengers have been charged with federal crimes. Right before Thanksgiving, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland directed federal prosecutors to make crimes on commercial airliners a priority.