The flight crew was itching to get off a New York-bound plane when they discovered someone aboard was infested with lice.
TikTok creator Ethan Judelson, 28, made a video detailing how his cross-country flight out of Los Angeles was diverted to Phoenix for an emergency landing. As he explained in his recap — which reached over 1.2 million TikTok viewers — Judelson says American Airlines shared minimal information about why they had to touch down well before reaching the East Coast.
"I look around, no one's on the ground, no one's freaking out. I'm like, it can't be that dire," he explained in his two-minute tell-all. "But we land, and as soon as we land, this woman across the aisle from me shoots up and rushes to the front of the plane."
Speaking to PEOPLE about a month after the incident, Judelson said he and his seatmate dismissed the woman's urgency as impatient passenger behavior.
"It just seemed like one of those people who, as soon as the seatbelt sign goes off, gets up and tries to be the first to their bag," he recalls. "So the girl next to me ... we were both like, 'Why is she so rushed to get off? We're all getting off together, calm down.' "
He continued to say the flight team assured everyone they'd learn more about the situation once deplaned. But Judelson says the only thing they learned at the gate was that their flight to New York would take off in 12 hours.
In a statement issued to PEOPLE, a spokesperson for American Airlines says, "On June 15, American Airlines flight 2201 with service from Los Angeles (LAX) to New York (JFK) diverted to Phoenix (PHX) due to the medical needs of a customer."
"Right when we land in Phoenix we all get the email saying, 'Here's your voucher for the hotel.' And we're like, 'Hotel, are we staying here?' " says Judelson, adding that American Airlines gave him $12 of spending money.
While the passengers' knowledge of the incident was limited, Judelson noted on TikTok how there were two women who gave "cryptic" answers when asked about the incident.
"They were like, 'Let's just say it was in the best interest of everyone here that they did this. It's for the safety of the plane,' " says the California resident, who works as an executive assistant on a TV show.
Judelson tells PEOPLE he found out the following day by "word of mouth." While waiting in the TSA line, he overheard another set of passengers discussing their reason for landing in Phoenix: a lice outbreak. Judelson confirmed he'd correctly heard their conclusion when he ran into those same travelers while buying a protein bar.
"I wasn't sure and wasn't going to say anything at TSA," he says. "I heard them talking about it again, and then tapped them on the shoulder and was like, 'Did you say lice?' "
They informed Judelson that their flight was indeed grounded by lice and explained what they knew of the situation. They alleged that the women who cryptically evaded questions at the gate were seated next to the person who had rushed to deplane the previous day.
"Apparently those two girls, they saw bugs crawling out of the woman's hair ... and alerted the flight attendant," said Judelson in his video, recalling what he was told by fellow flyers.
By the time everyone boarded again, Judelson wasn't sure who knew about the lice and who was still in the dark, since he says American Airlines didn't issue a statement during their 12-hour layover in Arizona. However the passengers were assigned their same seats, which caused a major scene when the two women returned to the spot where they first spotted the lice.
"They would not sit in that seat," the TikToker tells PEOPLE.