United Airlines Tells Flight Attendants Not To Duct Tape Passengers

Regardless of how unruly a passenger might be, United Airlines has warned its crew members not to duct tape them.

The company’s memo comes after the viral story of a man being duct tape while aboard a flight on Frontier Airlines.

ABC News obtained the memo from United’s Senior Vice President of Inflight Services, John Slater, in which he said that there are designated items on the aircraft that may be used in a difficult situation.

“And alternative measures such as tape should never be used,” the memo said.

Slater also noted a few airlines that had recently made news regarding how they’ve handled situations onboard. He then linked to a story about a July 31 incident on a Frontier Airlines plane.

He also said United crews have relied on all aspects of inflight safety training, including de-escalation measures.

“This professionalism and composure have set us apart from some of our competitors,” the United memo said.

A viral video taken by a Frontier passenger recorded a man having to be restrained by being duct-taped to his seat while on a flight from Philadelphia to Miami.

The passenger, identified as 22-year-old Maxwell Wilkinson Berry of Norwalk, Ohio, was charged with three counts of battery.

A Miami-Dade Police Department report accuses Berry of having two drinks, spilling a third, and walking around the cabin with his shirt off. He is also accused of groping the breasts of two female flight attendants.

The report also said another flight attendant “asked him several times to calm down and remain seated,” and the passenger “punched [him] in the face with a closed fist.”

A flight attendant and “nearby passengers restrained the defendant and had to tape him down to the seat and tie him with a seat belt extender for the remaining flight,” police stated.

A man in the video is seen using a roll of tape to strap and restrain the raged passenger in a seat.

A source familiar with Frontier said the airline’s planes carry duct tape, which can be used in extreme situations such as restraining a violent passenger. Frontier’s onboard kits do not include flexible plastic handcuffs as some airlines do.

Frontier’s spokeswoman did not comment on what restraint devices are carried on its aircraft but did say the passenger “needed to be restrained until the flight landed in Miami and law enforcement arrived.”

The flight attendants involved were placed on leave while the airline investigates the incident.