KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A flight carrying four members of Congress from Phoenix to Washington, D.C., was diverted to Kansas City International Airport Tuesday night due to a “disruptive passenger.”
Reps. Greg Stanton (D-Arizona), Eli Crane (R - R-Arizona), Andy Biggs (R - R-Arizona) and Paul Gosar (R - R-Arizona) were on American Airlines Flight 1218 that departed Phoenix Sky-Harbor International Airport at 3:34 CT Tuesday.
Two hours and 41 minutes into the flight, the pilots diverted to KCI, where the plane landed without incident around 6:15 p.m.
A social media post from Stanton showed a Kansas City, Missouri, police officer in the aisle of the Airbus A320 plane.
On a serious note, thank you Kansas City police for handling the situation professionally and without incident. pic.twitter.com/crhr4yKUZg
— Greg Stanton (@gregstantonaz) November 12, 2025
About an hour later, the flight took off from Kansas City and landed at Reagan National Airport at 9:01 p.m. CT.
"On Nov. 11, American Airlines flight 1218, with service from Phoenix (PHX) to Washington, D.C. (DCA) diverted to Kansas City (MCI) due to a disruptive customer," said a statement from the airline. "Law enforcement met the flight and removed the customer, and the flight later re-departed for DCA, where it landed normally. We thank our customers for their patience and our crew members for their professionalism."
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