What Sparked a Realtor’s Outburst on an American Airlines Flight

An Arizona real estate agent who was reportedly restrained with duct tape in a first-class cabin after an alleged hate-laced meltdown may have erupted following a tense religious conversation with the passenger seated beside him, according to new claims.

Dramatic footage from the American Airlines flight shows 67-year-old Layne Arthur Lundeen secured to his seat by other travelers after he allegedly launched into a racist and homophobic rant while the plane was traveling from Dallas, Texas, to Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday night.

The disruption forced the aircraft to divert to Baltimore, where Maryland Transportation Authority Police boarded the plane, removed Lundeen and placed him under arrest. The remaining passengers later continued on to Newark.

Now, the question of what triggered the Tucson-based realtor’s alleged midair outburst has taken an unexpected and unusual turn.

Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, a polarizing author known for drawing connections between biblical prophecy and modern events, has said Lundeen became enraged during a discussion about religion and Cahn’s latest book, allegedly grabbing him by the throat, striking him and damaging his laptop.

Cahn, the leader of the Beth Israel Worship Center, a Messianic Jewish congregation in Wayne, New Jersey, told the Daily Mail that he and Lundeen had been having a ‘friendly’ chat about their religious views for about two hours before things took a ‘demonic’ turn. 

In a ‘split second,’ Cahn claims, Lundeen, who he believes had just a couple of drinks, became enraged and started cursing at him and God.

‘He told me he was a realtor and onto his third marriage,’ Cahn said. 

‘He said he was at one point a Christian, but he rejected Jesus after he got divorced and he felt judged by Christians over the divorce.

‘I was trying to help him, I was trying to encourage him and say Jesus had trouble with religious hypocrites.’

But it was when married Cahn, 66, started talking about his own experiences of God that Lundeen allegedly saw red and ‘turned.’

‘His face changed, his voice changed, and he said… almost in a whisper, he was like, “I have something to tell you,” and he said, “Bulls***,”‘ Cahn alleged. 

‘He’s getting louder, and he starts cursing God, cursing Jesus, cursing me.

‘And then he said, “Go f*** yourself.”

‘This was from nothing. It wasn’t like there was any real argument.’

‘It was a split second. The change was like unbelievable. It was two hours of friendly, and then in one second it just changed to the most different voice, different faith, different guy,’ Chan added. 

‘It was as if something had taken him over.’ 

Cahn claimed he tried to withdraw from Lundeen by doing some work on his laptop, but his seatmate allegedly then began knocking his screen and attempting to get him to talk again.

He said a flight attendant allegedly then came over to tell him to quiet down.

As the saga escalated, Lundeen allegedly called a black flight attendant the N-word and made homophobic comments, according to TMZ. 

Cahn, for his part, told the Daily Mail he didn’t ‘specifically’ hear what Lundeen said – including whether or not he uttered the racial slur or made homophobic comments.

But he claims he did hear him say something ‘vulgar’ about the genitals of a male flight attendant.

Cahn said Lundeen tried to be ‘friendly’ to him again before allegedly putting ‘both hands around my neck’ and ‘pushing going back and forth.’

‘He’s doing like he’s playing, but it was threatening and it was a just bizarre thing,’ Cahn said. 

He claims a flight attendant came over a second time and asked Lundeen to stop bothering passengers.

In a bid to defuse the situation, Cahn said he showed Lundeen the cover of his new book, the Altar of Pergamon, on his laptop.

‘When he saw the book cover, that’s when he started getting violent,’ Cahn alleged. 

‘I could only describe it what happened as demonic. It was like he was influenced by the dark side.’

He claims Lundeen hit his chest and abdomen ‘like he’s trying to start a fight,’ before allegedly threatening: ‘I’m gonna punch your f***** Jewish face in.’

‘I knew I was in danger. I knew it was it was going towards violence. I was trying to keep calm.

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‘There were glasses there. I was thinking, in a second, you can just smash it and take it and cut me with it. I was trying to get the glasses out.’

He claims he had a ‘feeling’ Lundeen wanted to destroy his laptop so he got up from his seat taking his computer and cellphone with him.

But he said when he stood up, Lundeen allegedly lunged for his laptop and tried to wrestle it off him – leaving the whole plane in ‘shock.’

He alleged that during the struggle, Lundeen broke Cahn’s laptop and hurt Cahn’s already injured arm.

Cahn recalls two male passengers seated two rows in front of him then got up to help.

‘Everybody in the area was disturbed by it,’ he claimed. 

‘The air stewards were trying, but they really didn’t know what to do until those guys intervened when it became totally violent.’

Juan Mejia, a retired police officer who was on the flight, and Richard Olenick, a store manager, reportedly restrained Lundeen with duct tape around his wrists, head and body to tie him to the seat.

Olenick appeared to back Cahn’s account, telling Fox10 Phoenix that Lundeen had allegedly ‘ended up striking the passenger that was next to him’ and then ‘put his hand on the passenger’s throat.’  

At one point, Lundeen allegedly tried to get out of his restraints but the male passengers held him down.

Cahn said he switched seats before the plane made its emergency landing at Baltimore. When FBI agents boarded the plane, he said he gave them his contact details but has yet to hear from them. 

Lundeen was charged with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors, and was released on recognizance bond, according to online court records viewed by the Daily Mail.

After footage of the wild incident went viral, Lundeen was promptly fired from Long Realty in Tucson, where he was reportedly vice president.

The real estate company confirmed to the Daily Mail that Lundeen is no longer employed with them.

‘Long Realty is aware of reports concerning criminal charges filed against a former affiliated real estate agent arising from an incident that allegedly occurred during a commercial flight,’ CEO Kevin Kaplan said.

‘Upon learning of the incident, Long Realty promptly ended its affiliation with the individual. The individual is no longer associated with or authorized to represent Long Realty in any capacity.

‘The conduct described in the reports is wholly inconsistent with the professionalism, integrity, compassion, and respect for others that Long Realty expects from those affiliated with the company.’

Cahn, who is no stranger to being in the headlines for his often controversial views, said he does not plan to take legal action against Lundeen but is ‘hoping the guy gets better.’

‘I don’t think he knew what he was doing. He was just out of control,’ Cahn, who once featured on a podcast of the late conservative activist, Charlie Kirk, said. 

‘I just heard he got fired because of this, so I am hoping the best for him.’ 

Cahn, for his part, has likened the 9/11 attacks to biblical warnings that God would punish a disobedient Israel, according to a 2019 New York Times report.

The outlet also reported that Cahn said abortion, gay rights and the apparent public perception of religion indicated America had lost its way.

Meanwhile, Maryland Transportation Authority Police would not respond to questions about Cahn’s account of what happened on board the flight. 

Police did confirm, however, that an incident involving a ‘disorderly and unruly passenger’ had taken place.  

‘The responding MDTA officers observed a male passenger being restrained to his seat by duct tape and his hands secured by zip ties,’ Sergeant Clinton Kelly told the Daily Mail. 

‘The passenger 67-year-old Arthur Lundeen of Arizona was arrested by police and charged with disorderly conduct and second-degree assault for incidents that occurred aboard the aircraft at BWI Airport.

‘The incident that took place in the air is being investigated by the FBI Baltimore Field Office.

‘Lundeen was cleared by paramedics for an open wound on his arm that was noticed by officers while being taken into custody.’

American Airlines confirmed, too, that the flight was diverted due to a ‘disruptive customer.’

‘The ​safety and ​security of our customers ​and ​team members is our ​top ​priority, ​and ​we do ​not tolerate violence,’ a spokesperson said.

‘We ​thank ​our team members ​for ​their ​professionalism and ​our customers for ​their ​understanding.’

The Daily Mail has contacted Lundeen and his wife for comment.