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American Airlines said a customer "attempted to open the forward boarding door and physically assaulted, bit and caused injury to a flight attendant" after a passenger was seen tied up with duct tape on a flight from Dallas to Charlotte

A woman was duct-taped to her seat and gagged on an American Airlines flight after reportedly trying to open a door and assaulting flight crew.

TikTok footage has emerged of the woman, who allegedly had a mental health episode while in the air, tied up during a flight from Dallas to Charlotte, in the US, on July 6.

American Airlines said a customer "attempted to open the forward boarding door and physically assaulted, bit and caused injury to a flight attendant".

Images of a passenger tied up with duct tape were shared by TikTok user Arieana Mathena.

Flight attendants were seen rushing up and down the aisles on the night flight, claims Mathena.

The TikTok user claims toilet doors were locked and that it was clear something was happening at the front of the plane.

She said: "It was about 1.30am and we see flight attendants running up and down the aisles, frantically, whispering to each other, talking on the phone with somebody and just frantic and everybody was 'ok, now we're alert, what's going on?'."

She added "the flight attendants weren't saying anything" and claimed they "randomly locked the bathrooms".

In a TikTok video, liked by more than 88,000 people, she said: "It was chaos. No-one really knew what was going on."

Mathena, who has more than 3,700 followers on TikTok, added the pilot then used the intercom to ask everyone to stay in their seats and allegedly told passengers "we understand there's a bad situation on the plane right now and we're working on fixing it."

She added: "Gradually we heard more and more, someone screaming, we couldn't hear it before because the plane was so loud."

The TikTok user claims a flight attendant then said a woman in first class "had an episode" and allegedly tried to get off the plane.

After landing the TikTok user took the images of the woman tied to the seat with duct tape - her mouth was also covered.

Paramedics were waiting outside with a stretcher.

An American Airlines spokesperson said: “While in flight from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Charlotte (CLT) on July 6, the crew on board American Airlines flight 1774 reported a potential security concern after a customer attempted to open the forward boarding door and physically assaulted, bit and caused injury to a flight attendant."

They continued: "For the safety and security of other customers and our crew, the individual was restrained until the flight landed at CLT and could be met by law enforcement and emergency personnel."

The woman was taken to hospital with the flight having landed without further incident, reports TMZ.