A Hawaiian Airlines flight was diverted because a man complained about the elevated cost of a Blanket. As most people know, flying anywhere can be a nightmare sometimes. As Uproxx mentioned, if there was a “less paranoid” way of getting anywhere, we would all use it. However, until teleportation becomes a thing, we have to put up with security checks, queues, crying babies and that annoying fellow passenger who keeps pushing his knees into the back of our seat. Probably worse than all these problems are the endless costs airlines keep adding to our tab.
While you might book a “cheap flight,” in the long run it ends up costing you far more.
In this vein, a 66-year-old passenger on a Hawaiian Airlines flight, heading for Honolulu, was feeling a little chilly and got seriously ticked off when he asked for an in-flight blanket, only to be told the cost of this “luxury” would be $12. According to the Hawaiian Airlines website, the cost should be $10, so the man felt he had been totally ripped off. He got so "angry," in fact, that the flight crew decided to re-route the flight, and ended up making an unscheduled landing in Los Angeles, instead of tropical Honolulu.
'Just a complaint about a blanket', said L.A. airport police
Rob Pedegro, speaking for the Los Angeles Airport Police, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the re-routing was caused by “just a complaint about a blanket,” saying the man was upset about the cost and asked someone on the cabin crew to give him a corporate phone number so he could officially complain.
Reportedly they gave him the number, and he remarked that he would like to take someone “behind the woodshed” over the matter. That statement was reportedly what led to the flight being diverted.
An airplane bound for Hawaii was diverted over a blanket cost temper tantrum https://t.co/NZl3tyT7qI pic.twitter.com/t7nzpXmb8y
— UPROXX (@UPROXX) March 10, 2017
'Unruly passenger' posed no serious threat
After the Hawaiian Airlines plane landed, the “unruly passenger” was deplaned and met by FBI agents and police officers, who determined the 66-year-old didn’t pose a serious threat.
Four hours later, the plane was back up in the sky and heading for sunny Honolulu. But the man in question had to catch a different flight to Hawaii on Thursday.
CNN quotes Alison Croyle, spokeswoman for Hawaiian Airlines, as saying it is never their first choice to divert a flight, but their cabin crew felt it was necessary to remove the “unruly” passenger before heading over the Pacific Ocean to Honolulu.
Readers can watch the "unruly" passenger being taken off the plane in the video below.
