An Orthodox Jewish passenger says a United Airlines pilot forcibly removed him from an airplane bathroom, exposing his genitalia to other flyers.
In a lawsuit filed this week, the events unfolded on January 28, 2025, on a United Airlines flight from Mexico to Texas.
A flight attendant woke a pilot from a nap and asked him to check on the passenger, who had been in the bathroom for about 20 minutes.
The man explained his gastrointestinal predicament and assured the pilot and the flight attendant that he would be out soon.
About 10 minutes later, the pilot approached the lavatory and yelled at the man to leave the bathroom immediately, the lawsuit says.
The passenger said he told the pilot that he was finishing up and would be out momentarily.
The pilot responded by breaking the lock, forcing the bathroom door open and pulling the passenger out with his pants still around his ankles, exposing his genitalia to flight attendants and nearby passengers, according to the lawsuit.
After the two-hour flight landed in Houston, about a half-dozen Customs and Border Protection officers boarded and escorted him off the plane.
