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Disruptive passenger interrupts Hawaiian Airlines flight to New York

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  • HAWAIIAN AIRLINES

    A Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A330 is seen in this 2012 courtesy photo.

A Hawaiian Airlines flight en route to New York was forced to return to Honolulu on Tuesday because of a disruptive passenger.

Flight HA50 departed Honolulu at 4:25 p.m. carrying 280 passengers headed to the John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The aircraft was over the ocean when pilots turned the plane around and headed back to Hawaii, where sheriffs and airport security personnel awaited its arrival, according to an emailed statement by airline spokeswoman Alison Croyle.

HA50 returned to Honolulu Airport at 9:25 p.m. and resumed service at 12:35 a.m.

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      • The flight map on flightaware shows it was only about 100 miles from any of the Bay area airports. Hmm, does seem rather strange why the plane didn’t land at one of those major airports, where HA services too.

        • Probably didn’t have a new flight crew for an unscheduled stop between HNL and JFK. Pilots and flight attendants have limitations on duty times either via FAA Regulations or Collective Bargaining Agreements.

        • So you just happened to be tracking this flight? Really?

          Your post makes no sense at all. If the flight really was only 100 miles from the bay area, traveling at 542 mph, about 9 miles per minute, plane would have landed in less than 15 minutes. Why fly about 4.5 hours? Again it defies common sense.

          So no way would the plane have turned back to HA being so close to landing.

          Making up posts again are we? Sad.

        • 5 Hr trip, 2-1/2hrs to there and turn around 2-1/2hrs to get back here. 5 hrs to get to west coast, the math doesn’t put them closer to either, more likely less than half way to the west coast if you account for departure and landing time.

  • The Penalty should be the cost of fuel needed to return to HNL and reimburse all the passengers whose itinerary had to be redone … hit ’em where it hurts in the wallet … and of course some jail time wouldn’t hurt either

    • Sounds good but what if he didn’t have all that money? I wonder why couldn’t he have just been restrained? It’s such a waste of fuel and passengers’ time. There should be a new protocol of dealing with disruptive passengers that doesn’t waste everybody’s time. It is an insult to the flying public.

  • And you know the details of what the flight crew was dealing with? Why would an adult write things like this from a platform of complete ignorance?

    And what would the ACLU have to do with this? The correct answer, of course, is nothing. You still don’t know what the ACLU is and what it does.

      • @64hoo, oh goodness, that’s not true! The ACLU defended the right of the KKK to march in Skokie, lllinois, in 1977 for example. They’re hardly communists. The ACLU defends all our rights. And why would they want to “destroy America”? That’s just silly.

      • PoiDoggy – The ignorance here is really breathtaking. Almost 300,000 people have joined ACLU since the election. We’re giving memberships as Christmas presents.

      • 64hoo – The ACLU defended Rush Limbaugh against government overreach during his drug abuse episode.

        You seem to celebrate your prideful and willful your ignorance.

    • Unfortunately during the 9/11 WTC incident, aircrews were trained to open the door to hijackers, let them control the plane. This was a serious security failure. Thousands of innocent people had to die to relearn the lesson you never, ever, let a hijacker into the cockpit.

      • On a serious note, a lot was learned with the 9/11 hijackings. Not only are crews now trained to NOT let hijackers into the cockpit, even if they are holding someone hostage but how important is for passengers to get involved and gang up and fight the hijackers but also strong capable passengers should not hesitate to help flight attendants with unruly passengers who get physical. Nothing personal but many flight attendants are really getting up there with age and doubt many can handle a physical confrontation. As someone mentioned maybe for straight up drunk or trouble making passengers, subdue the person, tie them up with ducktape or rope, wrap them up in diapers and plastic sheeting in case their relieve themselves, then strap them in to a back row seat and go on with the flight to LAX and drop them off there.

  • another disgruntled female felon voter he should have brought his coloring book with him to help him with his depressed liberal mental disorder mind. but being a liberal I doubt it would help him, he needs to go to klastri class 101 to learn how to use his coloring book. klastri is a good teacher.

    • What? By the way, you just admitted to being a liberal (“but being a liberal I doubt…”), which I believe is something you consider similar to a “mental disorder.” In that case I can understand why your post so confusing.

  • And as for you, Allaha, shame on you for trying to politicize what was undoubtedly a frustrating and unhappy event for everyone on the flight. And it’s cruel to say the disrupter is “subhuman” when you don’t even know the nature of the disruption. Shame, shame, shame!

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