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A Sun Country flight from Minneapolis to Newark diverted to Chicago due to a disruptive passenger.The passenger reportedly made homophobic remarks and claimed the plane was going down.The flight landed safely in Chicago, where law enforcement removed the passenger.A Sun Country Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Newark was forced to divert to Chicago on Oct. 3 after an unruly passenger started causing a stir in the cabin.Seth Evans, another passenger on the flight, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the troublemaker was shouting that gay people were giving him cancer, cooking and radiating him. Evans said the passenger also claimed he was being chased by gay people.The disruptive flyer was reportedly wearing multiple face masks and had outbursts between playing rounds of Candy Crush on his phone.According to Evans, the passenger eventually said, "the plane is going down," which prompted the diversion.Sun Country acknowledged the incident in a statement to USA TODAY but did not confirm the specifics of what occurred."Sun Country flight # 233 – operating from Minneapolis/Saint Paul International to Newark International – diverted to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport as a precaution in response to a disruptive passenger," the statement said. "The flight landed without incident and the passenger in question was turned over to law enforcement and removed from the aircraft. We appreciate our passengers’ patience during the interruption to their travels."The airline said the flight continued on to Newark later that morning.According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there were 1,205 incidents of unruly passengers reported through Sept. 28. In 2024, there were 2,102 such incidents reported over the whole year.Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.
