Wild moment furious passenger tries to open emergency exit door on delayed Delta flight amid storm chaos

By LAUREN ACTON-TAYLOR, US NEWS REPORTER Published: 03:57, 30 April 2026 | Updated: 04:20, 30 April 2026 A furious passenger on a delayed Delta flight made a break for the emergency exit door in Atlanta, as severe thunderstorms grounded flights.  Footage from inside Delta Air Lines Flight DL2879 saw a male passenger losing his cool over a three to four hour delay amid the severe storms plaguing middle America on Monday.  'How long has it been delayed already?' the passenger, seen in a blue baseball cap, began yelling in the video posted on social media, appearing to communicate on the aircraft's phone.  'Three? Four hours? And now you're talking about another hour?'  The Boeing 737-900 flight, headed for Chicago's O'Hare International Airport from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, became grounded during taxi out due to a ground stop at O'Hare, Delta confirmed to the Daily Mail.  Crew surrounded him as he continued to furiously scream on the aircraft: 'Get me to the gate, I want off. Or I'll take myself off.' At that moment, he handed the phone back to a crew member, turned around and opened the emergency exit door.  'Oh my god,' one woman was heard screaming.  Footage from inside Delta Air Lines Flight DL2879 saw a male passenger losing his cool over a three to four hour delay amid the severe storms plaguing middle America on Monday The Boeing 737-900 flight, headed for Chicago's O'Hare International Airport from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, became grounded due to a ground stop at O'Hare In a statement to the Daily Mail, Delta said that an 'unruly' passenger attempted to open a cabin door as the flight, carrying 168 passengers, awaited take-off 'Who are you? Doesn't matter exactly. You know who matters? Me,' the man was heard telling someone who attempted to intervene.  Then, the pilot began to address the passenger over the aircraft's PA system.  'Hey sir- sir, this is the captain. Just- Hey, sir. Sir,' the captain was heard announcing.  'Here's the pilot. Oh here's the pilot. Okay, good,' the frustrated passenger said.  'This is the captain speaking. We are going to go back to the gate.' 'Yeah good idea!' the passenger responded.   In a statement to the Daily Mail, Delta said that an 'unruly' passenger attempted to open a cabin door as the flight, carrying 168 passengers, awaited take-off.  Watch this guy open the airplane door on the tarmac after a 3-to-4-hour delay because he wanted to go back to the gate. I’ve been stuck in those long delays too and it’s frustrating as hell, but this just makes the plane even later for everyone else. Hope it was worth getting… pic.twitter.com/F2b120LCcb As the man continued yelling at the crew, he handed the phone back to a crew member, turned around and opened the emergency exit door The flight pulled away from the gate at 7.38pm and eventually took off at 12.44am. It then landed at O'Hare at 3am local time The aircraft taxied back to the gate where law enforcement met the aircraft and its crew to remove the passenger and the flight departed later that evening, according to the air line.  'The safety of our customers and crew comes before all else, and Delta has zero tolerance for unruly behavior. We apologize to our customers on this flight for the delay in their travels,' the statement said.  According to FlightAware, the flight pulled away from the gate at 7.38pm and eventually took off at 12.44am. It then landed at O'Hare at 3am local time.  The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident, the New York Post reported. It remains unclear if the passenger was placed on the No-Fly list or faced any charges or fines.  The Daily Mail reached out to the FAA for comment.   No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. 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. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.