BackFight breaks out aboard Southwest Airlines in California
One passenger was arrested, and another had minor injuries but remained on the Southwest Airlines as it continued to Oakland
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New York: Video of brawling US airline passengers emerged on Wednesday for the second day in a row, this time showing two men going at it on a Southwest Airlines flight that had just landed on Sunday in Burbank, California.
The grainy 22-second scene of grown men flailing, tumbling and pummeling on an airplane lingered on social media for a couple of days before breaking out onto television newscasts and news organizations’ websites.
What sparked the melee was not immediately clear.
The video is the latest to show flying does not always take place in the friendliest skies.
Another passenger brawl had erupted on Monday at Florida’s Fort-Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, where emotions boiled over after budget carrier Spirit Airlines cancelled several flights because of a labour dispute with its pilots. Three people were arrested in that incident.
Video of the Southwest fracas was posted on Twitter by Nick Krause, a high-school student from Newbury Park, California, who said it was shot by his father.
The scene opens with a passenger wrestling another. Others pulled him back, enabling the second passenger to get up and punch his assailant repeatedly until fellow travellers intervened.
“What is wrong with you?" one woman is heard shouting. “Get off. Stop it."
The incident occurred on Sunday morning as passengers were leaving Flight 2530 at Hollywood Burbank Airport after arriving from Dallas, Southwest Airlines said. One passenger was arrested, and another had minor injuries but remained on the plane as it continued to Oakland, it said.
Southwest said its employees were “everyday heroes" trained to de-escalate such situations.
The company’s shares were down less than 0.1% in midday trading.
A month ago, a video went viral of a passenger being dragged off a United Airlines flight in Chicago. He later reached a settlement with United.
Later, American Airlines Group Inc. came under fire after video emerged showing an onboard clash over a baby stroller.
Last week, Delta Air Lines Inc. apologized after a couple with two toddlers was kicked off an overbooked flight. Reuters
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