A Frontier passenger was jailed for charging at a flight attendant with a box cutter he got through security — even though the TSA found it in his bag

• A Frontier Airlines passenger charged at a flight attendant with a box cutter.
• TSA officers found the tool but gave it back to him after wrongly believing they'd disabled it.

A Frontier Airlines passenger was jailed for two-and-a-half years on Thursday due to an altercation involving a box cutter on a 2022 flight.

William Allen Liebisch pleaded guilty last December to one count of interference with a flight crew, following a November 2022 incident on a flight from Ohio to Florida.

The 43-year-old from Cincinnati arrived at the city's airport for his flight to Tampa with a box cutter in his possession.

According to a news release from the US Attorney for Georgia's Northern District, officers from the Transportation Security Administration confiscated the tool. But they gave it back to Liebisch after wrongly believing they had disabled it by removing the blade.

The box cutter had a spare blade stored in the handle, which Liebsich inserted after the Frontier flight took off.

One passenger saw Liebsich cleaning his nails with the box cutter, while another told a flight attendant that Liebsich said he was going to stab somebody, the news release added.

A flight attendant asked two passengers to help keep Liebsich in his seat, while the captain made an emergency landing in Atlanta, the release said.

Passengers were then told to deplane while police waited at the gate for Liebsich to exit.

As the last few passengers were leaving the aircraft, Liesbich charged at a flight attendant while wielding the box cutter. He was tackled from behind by another passenger as police rushed onto the plane.

The flight to Tampa was subsequently delayed until the morning after, partly due to limits on the flight crew's hours.

Frontier Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside US working hours.