Screeching woman forces US-bound United flight from China to make emergency landing in Japan after terrifying mid-air meltdown

By WILKO MARTÍNEZ-CACHERO, US REPORTER Published: 18:43, 26 June 2026 | Updated: 18:59, 26 June 2026 A US-bound United Airlines flight from China was forced to stop in Japan to kick out an unruly female passenger in the midst of a violent meltdown. Multiple videos captured the moment an elderly woman yelled at authorities as she was escorted off the plane at the Narita International Airport near Tokyo after a mid–air tantrum. A passenger on the diverted flight shared more details about the woman's outburst, claiming that she initially 'seemed like such a normal person, clarifying her seat with the flight attendants without drama or anger.' However, she allegedly began acting out right as the plane was taking off. 'She tossed all the documents in her seat pockets in the air, shouted cuss words periodically, and also periodically started hitting herself,' the witness wrote. He added that the woman 'started acting rudely towards the flight attendants as if trying to grab their attention.' When she was attended to, the woman supposedly made a comment about how the flight attendants were trying to 'oppress me.' The woman was one of the 285 passengers on United flight 858 from Shanghai to San Francisco on Wednesday. United flight 858, traveling from Shanghai to San Francisco, was forced to make an emergency stop in Japan on Wednesday because of an elderly female passenger's angry outburst United Airlines confirmed to the Daily Mail that law enforcement officials had removed the disorderly passenger after stopping in Japan (View from a plane approaching the Narita airport)  Eventually, the crew captain came over, but found the woman with her eyes closed. He allegedly tapped her shoulder multiple times to get her attention, and the woman made contact with the captain shortly afterwards. 'In a startle reflex without even seeing who it was, she elbowed back, as if saying don't touch me,' the witness wrote. At that point, the captain and the woman began 'yelling back and forth,' according to the witness. She was left to calm down, but that did not prevent her from allegedly disrupting the flight again. 'Later, when she was given food, she threw all the trash on the floor, making a mess in her row,' the bystander wrote. The woman then apparently tried to show fellow passengers 'a photo on her phone of how she was being oppressed,' but was ignored. Passengers were subsequently informed that the flight would be diverted, though the woman apparently did not realize. During that period, she 'seemed to settle down and relax, despite still periodically cussing randomly.' Passengers eventually landed at the San Francisco about two hours after its originally scheduled arrival The United Airlines flight originally departed from the Shanghai Pudong International Airport (pictured) That changed when Japanese authorities boarded the plane at Narita International Airport and told her to disembark. 'She was confused and didn't want to go as nobody had told her,' the user wrote. The user claimed that 'almost all the flight attendants' and the captain removed themselves from the situation, even as the woman repeatedly asked 'what they were doing to her.' Video that circulated online of the scene captured the woman repeatedly yelling, seemingly in Chinese.  There were 16 crew members on the flight. After about 10 minutes, a Chinese–speaking official explained the situation and urged her to leave the aircraft. It was not clear what happened to her after deplaning. United Airlines told The Daily Mail on Friday that United flight 858 from Shanghai to San Francisco had diverted to Narita International Airport 'to address a disruptive passenger.' 'Law enforcement met the aircraft upon arrival and removed the passenger,' United said. 'Maintenance teams inspected the aircraft, and the flight… departed for San Francisco.' Public logs showed that flight arrived at the Narita airport around 4.42pm local time and left a little more than an hour later.  It landed in San Francisco about two hours after its originally scheduled time. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. 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