Flight turned around three hours after ‘disruptive’ passenger sat in crew seat

A United Airlines flight was returned to Newark Liberty International Airport hours before a flight to Israel after a passenger sat in a crew seat while waiting to use the bathroom.

United Airlines Flight 90 was three hours into Tel Aviv on Sunday when the unruly passenger got into a shouting match with a flight attendant.

And other passengers on the flight reportedly only learned they were returning to the US from the flight maps on their screens.

“The crew members told him that if he did not return to his seat, the plane would return to New York,” a passenger identified only as Sholomit told the Israeli outlet. ynet.

The witness added that the passenger did not appear to pose a threat.

A United Airlines spokesman said Well-informed person that the flight had returned to Newark because of the behavior of a “disruptive passenger.”

“United Flight 90 traveling from Newark to Tel Aviv returned to Newark shortly after takeoff due to a disruptive passenger. Law enforcement encountered the aircraft and removed the passenger. A new flight was scheduled to depart on Sunday night,” the airline said. The independent.

The airline added that upon arrival in Newark, the flight was met by police and the passenger was removed.

All the remaining passengers were then removed from the flight, which was rescheduled for Sunday night.

Passenger Jeff Hunt took to Twitter to share a video of the passenger apparently being removed from the flight.

And he wrote that the passenger was later seen wandering the airport “pleading his case” to other travelers, insisting he had not been physical and that the flight crew had overreacted.

“He just hung out with everyone, which was weird and bold,” Hunt said.

“If I was being escorted off a plane, I would have hung my head in shame and disappeared, but he spent four hours talking to people.”