Southwest passengers brawl on Hawaii-bound flight as crew, others try to break them up: ‘No sense whatsoever’
Trouble nearly in paradise!
Two passengers came to blows about an hour after takeoff on a Hawaii-bound flight and forced other travelers and crew members to break up the midair fight, a distressing video shows.
The chaos broke out on Southwest Airlines Flight 1288 from Oakland to Lihue Airport on the island of Kauai on Monday, airline officials told Hawaii News Now.
“I heard yelling, screaming and punches. I turned around and saw one man bleeding and then the other man being separated,” passenger Jim Wieder told the outlet.
In the video of the midair exchange, one man, dressed in a gray hoodie and baseball hat, is seen inching closer to the other man, wearing a gray pullover, before the confrontation turns ugly.
The man in the baseball hat is slapped in the arm by the man in the pullover as he approaches him from the aisle, while Southwest Airlines crew members and fellow passengers are already physically separating them.
The man in the baseball cap unleashes a series of punches, landing about seven in the other passenger’s face before fellow male travelers pull him away.
Though restrained, he continued to shout as the men held him back, attempting desperately to calm him down.
“Frankly, I was a little nervous because we’re 35,000 feet and you’ve got two guys swinging at each other, which makes no sense whatsoever,” Wieder said.
The fight happened between two male passengers about an hour into the flight, another witness shared.
It is unclear what ignited the fight between the two passengers.
The plane did not turn around and continued to fly to Kauai, one witness told the outlet.
“We commend our Crew and Customers for their professionalism in [defusing] this situation,” a Southwest official said in a statement to Hawaii News Now.
“The flight landed safely at its scheduled destination, and local authorities met the flight upon arrival.”
Both men were detained after the flight landed.
It’s unknown if any charges have been pressed against either man.
“Our department has zero tolerance for violent or unruly behavior aboard an aircraft. If you act out on an airplane, you can face criminal prosecution and fines up to $37,000,″ the US Department of Transportation posted on X.
The scuffle between the men shocked some Hawaii-based flight attendants who spoke with Hawaii News Now.
“I’ve been flying 45 years and no, it was not like this,” a flight attendant told the outlet. “Probably the worst thing that happened a couple years ago was a passenger taking a couple peanuts.”
A nonstop flight from Oakland International Airport to Lihue Airport is about five and a half hours.
The in-air melee is just the newest startling altercation to happen in the skies.
Only two weeks ago, a JetBlue passenger had to be restrained by four fellow travelers after becoming abusive toward the cabin crew.
The flight had taken off from London Gatwick Airport and was heading to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport when the aggressive man was caught on video struggling against four other men who were trying to hold him still in the darkened cabin aisle.
The passenger was allegedly drunk when he began to become unruly in midair.
Similarly, an American Airlines flight last month had to be diverted after a passenger allegedly punched a flight attendant who asked him to stop kicking a fellow flyer’s seat.
A fellow passenger on that flight, from Texas to Montana, said the man was spitting at people, adding that she saw him banging his head against the window, and he worried the crew enough that the pilot declared a level two threat at about 1:50 p.m. and diverted to Texas’ Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport.
Keith Edward Fagiana, of Las Vegas, was met by law enforcement and charged with interference with a flight crew upon arrival.
