Passengers on the London-bound American Airlines flight that returned to Miami Wednesday night after a woman refused to wear a face mask claim the first-class traveler appeared to be inebriated and refused every mask offered to her by the flight crew. 'There was a lot of drinking involved and I was nervous,' Steve Freeman, who was a front row witness to the incident, told WPLG Thursday. 'She sat behind us in first class — she was a first-class passenger and was extremely abusive to the stewards.' 'She tried loads of different masks, complained about each mask.' In a statement, the airline said Flight 38, which had been in the air for almost two hours, turned around due to a 'disruptive customer refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement'. Freeman, who was traveling home to London, alleged the decision to turn the flight around was not just about the mask, but more so about the way she treated the flight crew. He claims the stewards made several attempts at getting the woman to follow protocols. 'We almost felt something was going to happen. I could see the writing on the wall — they gave her a lot of warnings, so we were kind of ready for it,' he recalled. 'It wasn't just about the mask. It was the abusive behavior.' He was stunned the woman was not placed in custody, saying: 'I can't see what more would constitute grounds for arrest.' Steve (right) and Teresa Freeman (left) were shocked police did not arrest the first-class American Airlines passenger whose apparently drunken actions caused a London-bound flight to return to Miami. The unruly passenger, a woman in her 40s, is accused of refusing to wear a face covering and being 'extremely abusive' towards the flight crew American Airlines said there were 129 passengers and 14 crew members on the plane. Pilots turned the Boeing 777 around less than an hour into the transatlantic flight and the flight was canceled as a result of the incident. 'On the tracker, I was watching the flight and I saw the flight turn and I said to [Steve] "I think the flight's going back,"' Teresa Freeman recalled on Thursday. 'It was about maybe 15 minutes later the announcement came.' The airline called Miami-Dade police and once the plane landed and officers escorted the woman, who was in her 40s, off of the plane. A police spokesperson said American Airlines staff dealt 'administratively' with the passenger, which involved her being placed on the airline's no-fly list pending further investigation. The woman was not arrested, as she did not break local law. In September, President Joe Biden increased the federal penalty for people refusing to mask up on planes to $500. The London-bound American Airlines flight turned back about 500 miles into its 4,400-mile journey from Miami American Airlines said there were 129 passengers and 14 crew members on the plane. Teresa Freeman (not pictured) said many people felt 'distressed' by the turnaround: 'I saw a mother with a small child. There was an elderly lady. There was a young girl traveling on her own' Many passengers had to stay overnight in Miami to catch a re-booked flight on Thursday. A spokesperson for American Airlines told DailyMail.com customers were re-accommodated onto other flights. 'I saw a mother with a small child. There was an elderly lady. There was a young girl traveling on her own,' Teresa shared. 'There was just so many people distressed last night.' Despite the high stress and chaos, passenger Theresa Green argued American did a goof job at taking care of her and her fellow travelers. 'They looked after us. They put us up in nice hotels,' Green said. 'I've had a good day. So I'm good. I got to see Miami, so it's all good.' However, others claim they were completely in the dark on why the flight returned to Miami and many were left feeling confused. A police spokesperson said the woman was not arrested, as she did not break local law, and that American Airlines staff dealt 'administratively' with the passenger, which involved her being placed on the airline's no-fly list pending further investigation Many passengers had to stay overnight in Miami to catch a re-booked flight on Thursday. A spokesperson for American Airlines told DailyMail.com customers were re-accommodated onto other flight 'We weren't given any instructions, just told that we had to go back and now we can't get our luggage,' said one passenger to CBS4. 'They wouldn't really say anything and I don't think they told the flight attendants anything because all they would say is there was an extreme incident and they had to turn around,' said another passenger. Airlines reported nearly 6,000 incidents involving unruly passengers last year and 151 in the first two weeks of this year, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Most of them involved passengers who refused to wear masks. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced the federal mask mandate — which requires travelers to wear masks inside airports and on airplanes to reduce the spread of the coronavirus — in January 2021. Last August, TSA extended the mandate until March 18, 2022. The mask mandate has been extended numerous times already. All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility