Two men were detained at an Austin airport Sunday, after fighting on board a plane over a reclining seat, Austin CBS reports.
The incident, which was caught on video, took place on a plane parked at a gate in Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Flight crew and other passengers attempted to break up the fight as the men continued to exchange punches down the plane’s aisle, before Austin police were dispatched to the scene.
In the video, people can be heard screaming “clear the aisle!” and “return to your seats immediately,” while one passenger yells that “it’s not worth it.” Those who saw it go down tell CBS Austin that the fight began over a verbal disagreement about a seat stuck in a reclining position.
“When the plane finally landed in Austin and the seatbelt sign was turned off, both men jumped up and physically started fighting each other,” a passenger said.
American Airlines, the company that operated the flight, said in a statement that “law enforcement were requested to meet American Eagle flight 4698, operated by Republic Airways, after arriving to Austin (AUS) from New Orleans (MSY) due to an altercation between passengers.”
This is nowhere near the first on-board flight in recent memory. Just last month, a flight broke out at a Florida airport inside a plane after a man allegedly used a racial slur. The Black passenger opted to not press any charges against the white passenger who allegedly used the slur.
