American Airlines passenger injured in mid-flight assault by ‘emotionally unbalanced’ seatmate, lawsuit says

An 82-year-old Florida man was attacked without warning by a stranger aboard a commercial flight from Palm Beach to Charlotte, North Carolina, resulting in severe head and brain injuries, according to a federal lawsuit reviewed by The Independent.

From the moment she boarded American Airlines flight 2485, Allisen Elizabeth Werner, 37, “began exhibiting erratic and emotionally unbalanced behavior such as loud singing and bellowing to herself,” plaintiff Walter Loughney’s complaint states.

It says Loughney, 82, became “concerned” when Werner sat down next to him, but the cabin crew allegedly told him there were no other seats available.

Loughney’s “well-founded fears were realized later in the flight,” when Werner’s conduct took a dark turn, the complaint contends. Suddenly, Werner turned to Loughney, “struck him with punches, and severely beat him, which resulted in serious injury to [Loughney], including injuries to his head and brain,” according to the complaint.

“While Werner beat [Loughney], an American flight attendant stood within arm’s reach,” the complaint alleges. “Said flight attendant watched the assault and battery and did not take action to otherwise defuse or intervene in Werner’s vicious attack.”

Aside from his physical injuries, Loughney is now afraid to fly, according to the complaint. For her part, Werner was arrested upon landing and was subsequently indicted on two federal assault counts, which remain pending.

American Airlines did not respond on Wednesday to a request for comment. Werner, who is not named as a defendant in Loughney’s suit, was unable to be reached.

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On the morning of May 16, 2024, Loughney, a Palm Beach Gardens resident, boarded an American flight at Palm Beach International Airport, with service to Charlotte Douglas International, according to his complaint, which was filed May 5 in West Palm Beach federal court.

He took his seat in 18D, the complaint continues. Soon after, it says Werner, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, got on the plane and sat down next to Loughney, in seat 18E.

Loughney immediately registered concerns about his seatmate, who by this point had started “singing and bellowing,” the complaint goes on. Before takeoff, Loughney asked “multiple times” if he, or perhaps Werner, could be moved to a different location in the cabin.

The cabin crew “knew or should have known” that Werner could be trouble, and should have done something proactively, according to the complaint.

“However, American employees and flight crew were dismissive of his requests, told him no open seats were available, and did not move him or Werner, which resulted in Werner remaining seated next to the Plaintiff,” the complaint states.

While the plane was in the air, the complaint says Werner – without warning – “severely beat” Loughney, punching him again and again and leaving him with lasting injuries, including to his brain.

Once the plane landed in Charlotte, Werner was removed by police.

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On February 20, 2025, a federal grand jury in North Carolina handed down a two-count indictment against Werner. She was formally charged on March 3, but never showed up for her court date that November and was declared a fugitive, according to court records.

Several months earlier, in August 2024, Werner was arrested for allegedly assaulting a fellow attendee at the annual Burning Man music and arts festival. Werner reportedly struck the victim in the face with a nitrous oxide canister, after which she was accused of kicking and punching the police officers who responded to the scene, according to an arrest report.

Loughney’s complaint blames Werner’s attack on American, and calls him “a victim of a full systematic breakdown” by the carrier, which “failed to take adequate measures to ensure Plaintiff’s safety and protect him from assault while onboard its aircraft.”

“Long before Plaintiff’s assault, the issue of air rage and in-flight assaults were well-known concerns within the airline industry, particularly for Defendant American,” his complaint maintains.

Experts say the lack of personal space aboard commercial aircraft, combined with noise, hunger, and “bad smells” can combine to create “a perfect storm of triggered people” that generates outbursts not unlike road rage. Many airlines now train cabin crews to identify “subtle behavioral cues” by passengers that may indicate trouble, allowing them “the opportunity to act before situations spiral,” according to research by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Still, flare-ups in the air occur regularly, with the Federal Aviation Administration fielding 544 reports of unruly passengers so far in 2026 – an alarming figure to be sure, but a significant drop from an all-time high in 2021 of 5,973 such cases.

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Last year, an allegedly intoxicated passenger aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from New York to Kansas City attacked a woman who had gotten the seat she wanted, resulting in criminal charges as well as a lawsuit.

In one notable incident, a Horizon Air passenger made headlines after punching her husband and son mid-flight, then stealing someone else’s cookies during a flight from Austin, Texas to San Francisco, California.

In 2021, an American Airlines passenger was accused of verbally abusing flight attendants, and hitting one of them, because her seat did not recline.

Another American passenger was removed from a flight between São Paulo and New York after threatening to kick a flight attendant “in the balls,” after which she allegedly tried to storm the cockpit.

Loughney’s complaint says American “owed a heightened duty of care to ensure the safety and well-being of its passengers,” and that the airline breached its responsibilities by not taking “meaningful steps” to prevent the assault.

The run-in with Werner caused Loughney “mental anguish and emotional distress, feelings of violation, and ongoing anxiety regarding air travel,” according to the complaint.

It claims he additionally suffered “severe bodily injury resulting in pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, aggravation of a pre-existing condition, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life, expense of hospitalization, medical and nursing care and treatment, lost wages, loss of ability to earn money in the future and other economic damages.”

Loughney is now seeking a money judgment against American, which now has roughly three weeks to file a formal response to the lawsuit.