Drunk Woman Forces Delta Flight to Divert to Alaska

A drunk, unruly woman who disrupted a flight is being charged for the offense after the pilot was forced to divert the Detroit-to-Shanghai flight, to Anchorage, Alaska due to her behavior.

Stephanie Heizman Auerbach was on a Delta Air Lines flight on Sunday, when she broke out into out of control behavior, forcing to plane to divert to Alaska's biggest city, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

According to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Auerbach, a Shanghai-based designer and owner of an apparel and fashion company, was about 60 to 90 minutes into the flight when she started speaking very loudly, making gestures, walking up and down the aisles and even climbing over seats.

The flight attendants tried to get her to calm down but she screamed profanities at them and refused to return to her seat after being asked five times, the affidavit, filed by Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Benjamin Hallowell said.

According to the affidavit, flight attendants served the woman five glasses of white wine and passengers said she stole additional alcoholic beverages from the galley without the flight attendants noticing.

"Auerbach spilled alcohol on passenger A.J. and grabbed A.J.'s wrist to place a bracelet on A.J. (She) declined to wear the bracelet and asked Auerbach to leave her alone," the charges say according to the Anchorage Daily News. "In response, Auerbach swore at A.J. and demanded that a flight attendant give her A.J.'s name. A flight attendant intervened and returned Auerbach to Auerbach's assigned seat. Auerbach alarmed A.J. and it appeared to A.J. that Auerbach was attempting to gain access to the pilot."

After seeing her uncontrollable behavior, the pilot "determined that it was not safe to continue the flight" with Auerbach aboard. He decided to divert the plane to Anchorage, the affidavit says.

When the flight landed at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, the woman was still out of control. Police had to board the plane and physically remove her. She fought them as they took her off the plane.

Auerbach had two children with her. They were allowed to continue on the flight to Shanghai, China as their father agreed to pick them up at the airport.