Long Realty Drops Lundeen After the Flight 618 Arrest

Long Realty ended its affiliation with Tucson associate broker Layne Arthur Lundeen after his arrest on American Airlines Flight 618. The 67-year-old was charged in Maryland with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct after passengers bound him to a first-class seat on Sept. 3.

The brokerage cut is the penalty that landed in public first. An Arizona license still needs an employing broker, and an FBI file plus an FAA inquiry remain open.

Passengers Bound Lundeen After a First-Class Assault

About two hours into the Dallas/Fort Worth to Newark trip, Juan Mejia, a retired law enforcement officer, turned around in first class and saw the man two rows back with his hands on a seatmate’s neck. Richard Olenick, a store manager flying home from a work convention with Mejia, said the cabin had been calm until it was not.

Just like a light switch, all of a sudden, it went from quiet to yelling and chaos. I turned around to look, and the poor gentleman that was sitting next to him in the aisle seat, the individual had his hands around his neck and was, like, assaulting him.

Juan Mejia, retired law enforcement officer, passenger on Flight 618

Olenick said Lundeen called one of the flight attendants the N-word. Mejia said the abuse hit the whole first-class cabin, with racial slurs, vulgar language, and remarks that were “very offensive to the women” in the row behind. A woman who stepped in was struck, Olenick said, and that is when he and Mejia left their seats.

Mejia pulled the seatmate out. Olenick squeezed between the seats to hold Lundeen down. Flight attendants handed over zip ties and rolls of duct tape. Lundeen bit Mejia’s hand hard enough to leave teeth marks but not break skin, Mejia said, and tried to bite Olenick too. The blood on their clothes, Mejia said, came from cuts Lundeen had made on himself.

Crew offered tape for the mouth. Mejia said no, because it would block airflow. They wrapped chest, arms, hands, and then the head after he kept trying to bite. Three passengers helped. Olenick later said that on a plane “you can’t retreat, there’s not a lot of options.”

They held him that way for about 15 minutes, until the aircraft came down at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Maryland Transportation Authority Police took him off. The rest of the cabin went on to Newark.

American Airlines said Flight 618 diverted to Baltimore “due to a disruptive customer,” that law enforcement met the aircraft, and that “we do not tolerate violence.” Mejia recalled a flight attendant saying the crew had served Lundeen only one drink. Both men said they had noticed nothing odd about him before the outburst, and they still did not know what set it off.

The photograph of a first-class passenger wrapped like a parcel did more reputational work in 48 hours than a Maryland misdemeanor docket can do in a month. That is why the brokerage move arrived so fast, and why it is not the last file that matters.

Two Misdemeanors, an Oct. 19 Date, and the FBI

State charging papers are narrower than the cabin accounts. Court records list two misdemeanors, not a felony, and they put him back in Maryland in October.

THE LEGAL TRACKS NOW ON FILE

The District Court for Anne Arundel County docket is case D07CR26008432. Lundeen was released on his own recognizance after an initial appearance on Sept. 4, with no bail posted. He is due back on Oct. 19, 45 days after that first hearing.

The FBI said it is “conducting interviews to gather the facts and will consult with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland to determine if federal charges will be filed.” No federal charge had been announced through Sept. 6. The FAA said separately that it is investigating and that Flight 618 “landed safely” after the crew reported a passenger disturbance.

Walking out of a Maryland lockup on his own recognizance, after a photo of him taped into a first-class seat, is why the state case and the cabin story feel like two different events. They are. One is a misdemeanor file. The other is already a national clip.

Long Realty Ended the Affiliation on Sept. 6

Long Realty is a Tucson brokerage that had listed Lundeen as an associate broker, a Tanque Verde Trio partner, and, on a since-scrubbed LinkedIn page, a vice president on the executive council. Agents in Arizona work as affiliated licensees under a designated broker, not as lone shops. When the firm cuts that link, the yard signs and the email domain go with it.

News 4 Tucson confirmed by Sept. 5 that he was no longer with the company. On Sept. 6, three days after the flight, CEO Kevin Kaplan put the break in writing.

Upon learning of the incident, Long Realty promptly ended its affiliation with the individual. The individual is no longer associated with or authorized to represent Long Realty in any capacity. The conduct described in the reports is wholly inconsistent with the professionalism, integrity, compassion, and respect for others that Long Realty expects from those affiliated with the company.

Kevin Kaplan, CEO, Long Realty

The firm ended its affiliation with the individual in that public note and said its thoughts were with passengers, crew, and others affected. That language is the standard brokerage move after a viral arrest: protect the brand, strip the agent of any right to use the name, and say the conduct does not match the values on the website.

It is also the easy penalty. It does not, by itself, decide whether he can sell a house in Pima County next month for someone else.

What a Brokerage Cut Does to an Arizona License

Arizona does not let a person close a residential deal as a free agent. A salesperson or associate broker has to hang the license with an employing broker. Long Realty’s cut means he cannot use that firm. It does not, on the public pages retrieved for this article, show a commissioner order taking the license away.

Agent listings still showed Arizona license BR117674000 next to his name. The Department of Real Estate’s public database did return a live record for Laurie A. Hassey, the other name on Hassey & Lundeen PLLC, still Active at Roy H. Long Realty Company as of Sept. 6. It did not return a matching public snapshot in these searches under Lundeen’s own file, so his precise status after the cut is not treated here as proven active or proven suspended.

WHAT THE CUT CHANGES, AND WHAT IT DOES NOT

• The Long Realty name: He is not associated with the firm and cannot represent it in any capacity, per Kaplan.
• The employing-broker rule: A license that is eligible to be hired by a broker can be made active again only when a new shop takes him on.
• The 10-day paper: An employing broker who severs a licensee must give the department written notice within 10 days of the severance and return the employee’s license.
• Inactive time: Arizona lets a licensee sit inactive for up to 15 years without a broker, then requires current classes before anyone can hire that person again.
• A new shop: Nothing in the retrieved record shows another Tucson brokerage has picked him up, and nothing shows the commissioner has closed that door.

So the headline that he “lost his job” is true in the way the public means it. He lost the firm, the signs, and the email. Whether he can still sell houses is a different question, and it runs through the department and through whoever is willing to put a name on the hire form.

The Tanque Verde Trio and a Named PLLC

The quieter stakeholders are in a northeast Tucson office, not in a Baltimore holding cell. Listings described Lundeen as an associate broker and Trio partner at 9155 E. Tanque Verde Road, with 29 years in the business and a 5.0 score from 53 reviews. Homes.com listings for the prior five years credited him with 188 closed sales totaling $100.9 million, in a range from $215,000 to $1.8 million, at an average of $536,900.

The Tanque Verde Trio was in its eleventh year as a 10-person group inside Long Realty. The roster on those listings named Laurie Hassey beside Lundeen. Arizona’s license database still showed Hassey as an Active real estate broker under Hassey & Lundeen PLLC, hired by Long Realty on July 6, 2017, and still on that employer line on Sept. 6, 2026.

Pending buyers and sellers do not follow a viral clip. They follow listing agreements, dual-agency files, and who is allowed to speak for the brokerage. When a team leader is severed, the remaining agents have to pick up the paper, pull his name off the marketing, and tell clients who is actually on the contract. Hassey’s license being untouched is the practical fact under the scandal: the PLLC name still sits on a state file, and the other nine people still have deals to close.

LinkedIn was already scrubbed. The review pages were not. That lag is how a 29-year book of Tucson business stays searchable after the firm has said he is gone.

$43,658 Fines, PreCheck, and a No-Fly List

The criminal case is only one bill. The FAA can propose up to $43,658 per violation in an unruly-passenger case, and one incident can be charged as more than one violation. The agency also warns that the same night can cost TSA PreCheck and put a traveler on an airline’s internal no-fly list. Interfering with a crewmember’s duties is a federal-law problem even when a county court is only looking at misdemeanors.

THE FAA FILE AROUND THIS CASE

• 2026 reports: More than 1,160 unruly-passenger incidents have been reported to the FAA so far this year.
• 2025 total: About 1,600 incidents were logged for all of last year.
• The longer drop: The FAA says the rate has fallen by over 80 percent from the highs of early 2021.
• This flight: The agency confirmed an investigation and said Flight 618 landed safely before continuing to Newark.

Civil money and a possible federal charge move on a different clock from a brokerage press note. They also move on a different clock from a duct-tape photograph. That gap is the unfinished part of the penalty, and it is the part that still has dates attached.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The arrest: Maryland Transportation Authority Police booked him after the BWI divert on Sept. 3.
• The charges: Second-degree assault and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors, in Anne Arundel County.
• The job: Long Realty ended the affiliation and barred him from representing the firm.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• Federal charges: The FBI has not said whether the U.S. Attorney will file.
• An FAA fine: No proposed civil penalty amount has been posted for this incident.
• A new broker: No retrieved record shows another firm hiring him, or the department suspending the license.

Olenick, after he threw out blood-soaked jeans, said he hoped Lundeen “gets the help that he needs.” Help is not the file in Anne Arundel. Lundeen is due in that court on Oct. 19. Through Sept. 6, the FBI had not said whether federal charges will follow.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting on public statements, court records, and passenger accounts, and it is for information only. It is not legal advice, a finding of guilt, or a judgment on any real-estate license. Criminal charges are allegations unless and until a court convicts, and readers with a legal or licensing question should consult a licensed attorney or the Arizona Department of Real Estate. Charges, fines, affiliation status, and license records can change after the dates in the records cited here.