L.A.-bound Hawaiian Airlines flight turns back due to ‘unruly passengers’

Hawaiian Airlines Flight 2, bound for Los Angeles, returned to Honolulu on Tuesday night due to two “unruly passengers.”

The flight, which left at 2:50 p.m., was two hours into its trip when the captain decided to return the plane to Honolulu because of the passengers.

Local law enforcement met the aircraft when it arrived at 6:38 p.m., a spokeswoman for the airlines said in an email.

The 276 passengers and 11 crew members disembarked while the plane was cleaned and restocked with supplies.

Hawaiian replaced the crew, and the plane departed at 8:20 p.m., 5-1/2 hours after it originally departed.

Hawaiian said, “Safety is our priority and we apologize to our guests for the inconvenience.”

The incident follows another on Feb. 27 when an unruly 47-year-old passenger aboard Hawaiian Airlines Flight 459 to South Korea allegedly stepped on a boy seated next to him as he lunged at flight attendants. The pilot decided to turn that plane around.

The FBI arrested the passenger, a Korean national who did not have proper documentation. A federal complaint said passengers witnessed him being handed a bottle of whiskey by a duty-free worker, and he finished it before flight attendants began the regular service.