Gripe by passenger on Hawaiian leads to unplanned stop

A complaint over the cost of a $10 blanket aboard a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Honolulu — and a comment about taking someone “to the woodshed over this” — led the pilot to dump the plane’s fuel and make an unscheduled landing in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning that likely cost the airline “tens of thousands of dollars.”

“At this time, we don’t know how much — if any — fuel was jettisoned,” Hawaiian Airlines spokeswoman Alison Croyle wrote in an email to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “We can say that total costs of a diversion are tens of thousands of dollars. We re-cater the aircraft, we refuel (some fuel is already burned as we flew), we provide meals for passengers who were delayed, we incur ground handling fees and more.”

Hawaiian Airlines Flight 7 left Las Vegas at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday morning with 270 passengers and a crew of 10 aboard an Airbus A330.

Because of rest requirements, the original pilot had to be replaced in Los Angeles, Croyle said.

The unidentified 66-year-old male passenger who complained about the cost of the blanket was escorted off the A330 and released.

There will be no follow-up investigation or criminal charges, said Rob Pedregon, spokesman for the Los Angeles Airport Police.

“It was just a complaint about a blanket, about the cost of the blanket, correct,” Pedregon said. “He was upset about the charge for the blanket and asked for a corporate phone number. They provided him with it and (then) he said, ‘I’d really like to take somebody behind the woodshed over this.’ They diverted the aircraft because of that statement.”

Pedregon did not release the man’s identity or hometown but said: “He was not arrested, not charged. He was just removed from the plane. No criminal charges. No charges by the FBI. None by us. He was just refused service. He was released and able to find a different service provider.”

Other media reported that the passenger aboard Flight 7 called Hawaiian’s corporate office from inside the plane, but Croyle said that was incorrect.

“No HA7 passenger called the corporate office,” Croyle wrote in her email.

The flight originally was scheduled to land in Honolulu at 1:54 p.m. Hawaii time. With the diversion to Los Angeles, the same Airbus A330 did not lift off from LAX until 12:48 p.m. Hawaii time. It arrived in Honolulu at 7 p.m.

“The decision to divert is based on safety,” Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Alex Da Silva said. “We had an unruly passenger on board, so the pilot elected to divert to LAX.”

The airline later released a statement saying the plane “was about one hour into the flight, just past Los Angeles, when our flight attendant notified the crew of an unruly passenger.”

“Our flight crews are responsible for the safety and comfort of all passengers on board our flights and the captain in charge of the aircraft is entrusted with determining when it’s best to deplane an anxious or unruly passenger,” the statement said. “Diverting a fight is clearly not our first choice, but our crew felt it was necessary in this case to divert to Los Angeles and deplane the passenger before beginning to fly over the Pacific Ocean.”

George Enriques, a Maui-bound passenger aboard Flight 7, was sitting across the aisle from the white-haired passenger in seat 42A who was escorted off the plane.

A flight attendant told Enriques that the passenger in 42A had threatened the pilot, Enriques told the Star-Advertiser.

Earlier, while waiting to board the flight at Las Vegas’ McCarren International Airport, Enriques said he saw Hawaiian Airlines personnel speaking to the passenger.

The man told Enriques, “They’re not treating me right. I’m going to call the president,” Enriques said.

About an hour into the flight, the pilot announced that the plane was landing in Los Angeles but had to dump its fuel over the ocean first.

A flight attendant later told the passengers that the plane had to divert “due to operational reasons” and that law enforcement officers would board the plane. The flight attendant said the cabin was “on secured lockdown.”

In addition to the passenger who was escorted off the flight, two other passengers and the original pilot did not fly on to Honolulu once the Airbus A330 lifted off again, Croyle said.

Star-Advertiser reporter Leila Fujimori reported from on board Hawaiian Airlines flight 7.