Hawaiian Airlines flight lands back on Oahu after mid-air disturbance

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A Hawaiian Airlines flight bound for Los Angeles returned to Oahu Tuesday night.

Hawaiian Airlines flight 2 was in the air heading to LAX when the pilot decided to turn the plane around. Witnesses on the flight say there was a verbal altercation between two passengers.

Multiple passengers say the fight started after one of the men bumped the other with his chair.

“I heard a bunch of shouting coming from behind me — about three rows back. Some dude was in another dude’s face telling him to *expletive* off,” passenger Justin Moore-Brown said.

The flight was about halfway to LA when the plane was turned around.

“I just heard yelling. It started quietly and I turned around and they were in each other’s face already,” Moore-Brown added.

Witnesses said at least one flight attendant got involved trying to calm the passengers down.

Hawaiian Airlines released a statement on the incident saying:

“Hawaiian Airlines Flight 2 departed Honolulu for Los Angeles at 2:50 p.m. local time. Approximately two hours into the flight, the captain elected to return the aircraft to Honolulu due to two unruly passengers. Local law enforcement met the aircraft upon arrival at 6:38 p.m. There were 276 passengers and 11 crew onboard. Safety is our priority, and we apologize to our guests for the inconvenience. The new departure time is 8 p.m.”

The delay was undoubtedly a major inconvenience for others on the flight.

“There was no physical contact between the two parties. That’s what I saw,” fellow passenger Tony Morberg said. “And that’s why I thought they could let it go. We didn’t need to disrupt 300 people’s day of travel for two people who got pissed off and yelled at each other.”

Local authorities reportedly removed at least one of the passengers involved when the flight landed on Oahu.

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This story will be updated.

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