Airplane Passenger Who Tried to Open Exit Door, Flipped Off Flight Attendants Learns His Fate By Kimberlee Speakman

The man who attempted to open an exit door mid-flight from Omaha to Detroit in July — forcing the plane to divert and make an emergency landing — has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.

Mario Nikprelaj, 24, also received two years of supervised release during his sentencing on Tuesday, Jan. 13, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Iowa.

The sentencing comes several months after Nikprelaj pleaded guilty to one count of interfering with flight crew members and attendants in September 2025. The incident on the flight took place on July 17, 2025.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in its release that Nikprelaj “began making disruptive and rude statements to passengers and flight crew” prior to the Omaha flight taking off. He “refused to put his seatbelt on, but a flight attendant eventually convinced him to do so and the plane took off.”

Subsequently, Nikprelaj “repeatedly took off his seat belt and had to be told to put it back on” and “stood up repeatedly while the plane was ascending.” He even “flipped off” a flight attendant who told him to put his seat belt on and “poked the flight attendant in the chest.”

When a flight attendant told him that he would be reported to law enforcement, “Nikprelaj threatened to kill the flight attendant,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

After that, several passengers pressed their emergency call buttons after noticing that “Nikprelaj began manipulating the emergency exit door near his seat.” They told authorities that they had believed that he was “trying to open the door.”

“The flight attendant Nikprelaj had threatened, who was 80 years old, approached him again to stop him. Nikprelaj pushed the flight attendant away, swore at the flight attendant, and continued to threaten to kill him,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in its release.

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The incident was reported to the pilot, who made an emergency landing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. As this was happening, Nikprelaj “stood up, took his shirt off, and began walking up and down the aisle,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. 

He also “took a swing” at passengers who approached him and returned to his seat only to continue to “flip off the flight attendant and other passengers.”

Officers with the Cedar Rapids Police Department took him into custody after the plane landed. When officers searched him, they found “a prescription bottle containing 41 pills of purported Xanax,” which had not been in his name, per the release.

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Following his arrest, Nikprelaj was taken to the Linn County Correctional Center and charged with disorderly conduct, assault, possession of prescription medication, tax stamp and harassment in the first degree, the Cedar Rapids Police Department said in a press release shared on Facebook at the time.

The U.S. Attorney’s office noted in its recent release that Nikprelaj has a criminal history and was previously convicted of assaulting, resisting, or obstructing a police officer. He also had previous convictions of “domestic violence, disorderly conduct, breaking and entering, and possession of drug paraphernalia.”