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A Hawaiian Airlines flight to San Francisco from Kahului turned back to Honolulu on Saturday because of a passenger.
The FBI says the captain of Flight 42 turned around the aircraft about halfway to its destination after a flight attendant informed him that passenger Anthony Niederreiter was agitated and yelling.
The attendant told FBI that she first noticed Niederreiter getting agitated after he asked her for a blanket and she told him it would cost him $10. The attendant said she later knocked on the bathroom door after Niederreiter had been in there for 10 minutes. She said Niederreiter flung open the door, yelled that he was not smoking, but taking a “poop,” while sitting on the toilet with his shorts around his ankles.
Other flight attendants told the FBI that after Niederreiter returned to his seat, he continued yelling, cursing and gesturing and kicked the bulkhead near his seat. He calmed down and apologized after the captain made the announcement that he was diverting the flight to Honolulu.
A woman who was traveling with him told the FBI that Niederreiter had been drinking prior to boarding the flight.
A Hawaiian Airlines spokesman said the plane landed in Honolulu, dropped off Niederreiter, refueled, then resumed its flight to San Francisco.
Niederreiter was arrested for interfering with flight crew members and attendants and taken to the Federal Detention Center.
At his initial court appearance Monday, U.S. Magistrate Kevin S.C. Chang ordered Niederreiter released on $20,000 unsecured bond to a halfway house pending further prosecution.
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