Southwest Flight Diverted After Fight Breaks Out Between “Disorderly” Group Of Passengers

(David Transier)

A Southwest Airlines flight from San Diego heading to Chicago last night had to make an unplanned stop in Amarillo, TX last night, after police said a fight broke out on board among a group of passengers who were traveling together.

The flight ended up diverting to Amarillo at around 10:30 last night, Southwest said in a statement (via the Associated Press), “after several passengers traveling together became disorderly and, subsequently, refused to obey instructions from the crew.”

Once on the ground, six passengers were detained on suspicion of interfering with the flight crew, and six others deplaned at that time as well, as Southwest told CBS Chicago: “Additionally, six other members of the group chose to deplane and remain in Amarillo.”

The AP reports that “a handful” of others were prevented from re-boarding the plane at the request of the crew, however, citing Amarillo police. In any case, the group left the plane, and the flight went on to Chicago at around 1:30 a.m., finally landing around three hours after it was originally scheduled to arrive, at 3:22 a.m.

A police corporal said those involved in the brawl appeared to be in their 20s and 30s and were part of a larger group of people traveling together. It’s unclear exactly what the fight or disturbance was about, however.

“We’re taking statements from everybody,” he told reporters. “But at this point, I don’t really have a lot other than, obviously, several passengers felt like they were definitely out of line, very vocal, very obnoxious-acting. Was it a disruption of the flight? That’s going to be up to the FBI to determine.”

Flight to Midway diverted to Texas when fight breaks out on board [Associated Press]
Six Men Detained In Texas After Disrupting Flight From San Diego To Chicago [CBS Chicago]