Plane passenger from hell who had to be DUCT-TAPED to his seat after mile-high meltdown breaks his silence

DAILYMAIL • 3h ago

By JOE HUTCHISON, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER 15:56 16 Sep 2026, updated 14:22 17 Sep 2026

An Arizona realtor who had to be duct-taped to his first-class seat after flipping out mid-flight has spoken out for the first time after his air-rage went viral.

Layne Lundeen, 67, was removed from his flight from Dallas, Texas, to Newark, New Jersey, earlier this month after allegedly launching into a racist and homophobic rant.

Passengers bound him to his chair and the plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Baltimore airport where he was arrested.

According to The Banner, he appeared in court the day after and faced two charges of second-degree assault and disorderly conduct.

The outlet has since obtained audio of his court proceedings, in which he said: ‘I don’t remember any of what happened.’

As proceedings got underway, he was advised of the charges held against him, to which he said: ‘I assaulted a police officer? Is that what it says?’

After he put his glasses on to read the accusations, he added: ‘Oh my God. What a mess. I don’t remember any of it.’

When questioned by the judge, Lundeen said he had been flying to help one of his daughters move into a new apartment and to celebrate her birthday.

‘I came to New York City. I don’t know how I got to Maryland. I was supposed to land in New Jersey. I got a double whammy for my trip, now it’s a triple whammy,’ he said.

He was later released and told to stay away from drugs and alcohol. His trial date is scheduled for October 19, according to court records seen by the Daily Mail.

Since the outburst, it has emerged that Lundeen was sitting beside Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, a controversial author known for linking biblical prophecy to current events.

Cahn spoke with the Daily Mail after the incident, saying that Lundeen grabbed him by the throat, hit him and broke his laptop midflight.

According to Cahn, he and Lundeen had been talking about their religious views before the conversation took a turn.

In a ‘split second,’ Cahn claimed, Lundeen, who he believes had just a couple of drinks, became enraged and started cursing at him and God.

Cahn said: ‘He said he was at one point a Christian, but he rejected Jesus after he got divorced and he felt judged by Christians over the divorce.

‘I was trying to help him, I was trying to encourage him and say Jesus had trouble with religious hypocrites.’

But it was when married Cahn, 66, started talking about his own experiences of God that Lundeen allegedly saw red and ‘turned.’

‘His face changed, his voice changed, and he said… almost in a whisper, he was like, “I have something to tell you,” and he said, “Bulls***,”‘ Cahn alleged.

Cahn claimed he tried to withdraw from Lundeen by doing some work on his laptop, but his seatmate allegedly then began knocking on his screen and attempting to get him to talk again.

He said a flight attendant allegedly then came over to tell him to quiet down.

As the saga escalated, Lundeen allegedly called a black flight attendant the N-word and made homophobic comments, according to TMZ.

Cahn claimed that Lundeen then hit his chest and abdomen ‘like he’s trying to start a fight,’ before allegedly threatening: ‘I’m gonna punch your f***** Jewish face in.’

He claimed he had a ‘feeling’ Lundeen wanted to destroy his laptop, so he got up from his seat, taking his computer and cellphone with him.

But he said when he stood up, Lundeen allegedly lunged for his laptop and tried to wrestle it off him – leaving the whole plane in ‘shock.’

He alleged that during the struggle, Lundeen broke Cahn’s laptop and hurt Cahn’s already injured arm.

Cahn, for his part, told the Daily Mail he didn’t ‘specifically’ hear what Lundeen said – including whether or not he uttered the racial slur or made homophobic comments.

But he claimed he did hear him say something ‘vulgar’ about the genitals of a male flight attendant.

Cahn said Lundeen tried to be ‘friendly’ to him again before allegedly putting ‘both hands around my neck’ and ‘pushing going back and forth.’

Juan Mejia, a retired police officer who was on the flight, and Richard Olenick, a store manager, reportedly restrained Lundeen with duct tape around his wrists, head and body to tie him to the seat.

At one point, Lundeen allegedly tried to get out of his restraints but the male passengers held him down.

Cahn said he switched seats before the plane made its emergency landing in Baltimore.

When FBI agents boarded the plane, he said he gave them his contact details but has yet to hear from them.

After footage of the wild incident went viral, Lundeen was promptly fired from Long Realty in Tucson, where he was reportedly vice president.

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