FBI investigate after passenger asked flight attendants to join 'mile high club'

13 January 2024 , 13:11

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The passenger asked more than one flight attendant if they'd like to join the mile high club with him (Image: Reginald Mathalone/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock)

A man is facing criminal charges and an FBI investigation has been launched after he allegedly asked flight attendants to join the " mile high club " while onboard a Spirit Airlines flight.

47-year-old James Warren Finnister has been charged with interfering with flight crew members and assaulting a flight attendant on an aircraft in the US. If Finnister, from Detroit, Michigan, is convicted he faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

Court documents show that Finnister was on board a Spirit Airlines flight from Louisville, Kentucky, to Orlando International Airport, Florida, on January 9 when the incident took place. Finnister allegedly sexually harassed flight attendants, assaulted a crew member and asked to be let into the aircraft's cockpit while the plane was in flight.

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The man asked two flight attendants if they would like to join the mile high club (stock image) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

He is also accused of other behaviour slammed by the Florida Attorney's Office as "disruptive". His alleged actions took place on the roughly two-hour flight, which left Louisville just after 8.10am Eastern time and landed at Orlando at around 10.25am Eastern time.

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Finnister asked the lead flight attendant onboard Flight 693 if she wanted to join the "mile-high club" around an hour into the flight, according to court documents, before going on to pull a second crew member into his seat and asking her the same question. Originally designated seat 18D, Finnister "never sat in that seat" and after his interaction with he lead flight attendant, he was reassigned to 22A, a window seat.

It was while in this second seat that Finnister pulled the second crew member into his seat. The documents added that Finnister had never sat in his assigned seat and "asked the flight attendant multiple questions about the aircraft cockpit, which alarmed her, including questions related to entering the aircraft cockpit."

The Spirit Airlines flight was met by cops when it landed at Orlando (Reginald Mathalone/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock)

Having been moved seats for a third time "due to his disruptive, intimidating behaviours", Finnister is said to have laid down on the floor of the aircraft - forcing flight attendants to "stop service and pick Finnister off the floor". When the flight touched down in Orlando at around 10am, it was met by FBI agents who had been contacted by the Orlando Police Department.

Police had contacted the FBI to inform them that there had been an "incident requiring FBI response" on an aircraft that had just landed at the busy airport. When speaking to police, Finnister admitted he "took multiple alcoholic shots to calm his nerves prior to the flight, which he stated was his first."

After being released on bond, Finnister shared his first flight experience in his words with the media. He said: "When I first walked in the plane, I made a joke - I said, 'This one of those mile high flights?'

"They laughed and sat me by the window, [because] it was my first time flying... I was talking to a father and son next to me. We took off, I seen the clouds, and I fell asleep for two hours."

Fiona Leishman