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Woman ordered to pay $39,000 for disrupting flight, forcing pilot to come back to Phoenix

A flight from Phoenix to Honolulu had to turn around after a 29-year-old passenger threatened the flight crew, prosecutors say.

PHOENIX — A woman has been ordered to pay American Airlines nearly $39,000 after her poor conduct during a 2022 flight to Honolulu resulted in the pilot turning the plane back around to Phoenix.

Cayla Farris, 29, of Hawaii was sentenced last week in an Arizona court to three years of supervised probation after she pleaded guilty to interfering with a flight crew member, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of Arizona.

In February 2022, Farris was a passenger on a flight from Phoenix to Honolulu and began using profanity while on board. After the defendant threatened the flight crew and other passengers, the captain decided to turn the plane around and land in Phoenix.

The incident resulted in several flights having to be rerouted to Hawaii.

U.S. District Judge Susan M. Brnovich sentenced Farris to a time-served sentence of 3.6 months in prison. The defendant will have to obtain approval before boarding an aircraft while she's on probation.

   

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