It was undoubtedly a bad scene on yesterday’s Breeze Airways Flight 704, when a traveler became unruly and violent. What stuck out to me, though, is that the passenger somehow managed to break out of restraints twice. It seems like after that first breakout, you’d really make sure they couldn’t escape again. I admit, however, to having exactly zero experience with this.

Fortunately, the internet is full of all sorts of people who might be telling the truth about all sorts of expertise. Here’s a reasonable-sounding Quora answer to the question “Can airlines restrain passengers?”:

Yes, but there are some rules. We can’t attach them to an immovable object like their seat. We have zip-ties that are used as handcuffs for retraining [sic] unruly passengers. We can zip their hands together, their feet together and we can even “hog-tie” them if the hands and feet alone aren’t enough. We CANNOT tie them to the seat. If there was an emergency evacuation, we are responsible for any person we have disabled from saving themselves. If they were tied to a seat, we would not be able to get them off of the plane quickly. If they are hog-tied, we can just chuck them down the slide and wish them well! Seriously, we really are responsible for their safety.

Perhaps the zip ties on this flight were old, and the plastic had turned brittle and weak. Or perhaps Breeze Airways Flight 704 had a Hulk.