Passenger allegedly tries to open door mid-flight

• An Ontario man is in federal custody in the United States after allegedly assaulting members of an Air Canada flight crew and trying to open the door of a plane while it was in flight.

Court documents show Brandon Michael Courneyea was arrested on Monday after his flight from Montego Bay, Jamaica, to Toronto had to be diverted because of a disturbance on board.

The documents allege Courneyea yelled at fellow passengers for looking at him, swung a pot full of hot coffee at flight attendants and eventually tried to open the door of the aircraft midflight after saying “it would only take one guy to take the plane down.”

The flight was ultimately diverted to Orlando, Fla., where Courneyea was arrested and taken into custody by the FBI.

Courneyea’s wife says his arrest has come as a complete shock, saying his alleged behaviour is not in keeping with the man she knows.

“That is not my husband at all,” she told The Canadian Press. “There’s a lot more to what brought that on, because my husband is the kindest, most loving man you’ll ever meet.”

Amanda Courneyea said her 33- year- old husband headed off to Jamaica last week from his home in Amherstview, Ont., to fulfil a long-held desire to take a vacation there.

She said she had urged him to “cross it off his bucket list,” adding he travelled alone because the couple has five children, many of whom have special needs and cannot be left in the care of a babysitter.

But Brandon Courneyea’s vacation plans went awry almost immediately, according to his wife, who said he told her that locals were threatening his life.

She arranged for him to move up his flight plans f rom Friday to Monday, booking him on an Air Canada flight to Toronto that left Montego Bay in the late afternoon.

According to the criminal complaint filed against Courneyea, disruptions began almost as soon as the flight was in the air.

Eventually, the criminal complaint states, he entered the back of the plane, picked up a full coffee pot and began swinging it at a flight attendant.

Toronto city councillor Michael Thompson, who happened to be on the flight, said he accompanied Courneyea to the back of the plane to talk to him if needed, but Courneyea told him to leave him alone.

“I had a particular encounter with a hot coffee pot that he was threatening to throw on me,” Thompson said.

Crew and passengers restrained Courneyea and eventually bound his arms and legs to a seat using zip ties.

Air Canada spokeswoman Isabelle Arthur said Courneyea’s efforts to open a door mid- flight would not have succeeded, saying it’s “impossible to do during flight.”