As the United States prepares for presidential elections on 5 November, political tensions between the different parties are rising and even causing problems amongst voters abroad. This week, two female passengers aboard a British Airways plane had to be kicked off the flight after fighting over a Donald Trump hat.
On Monday, 28 October, a British Airways plane was preparing to fly from London Heathrow Airport to Austin, Texas. However, due to a dispute between two of its passengers, the flight left with a 2 hour delay and without either of them on board.
Allegedly, the dispute between the two started because one of the women was wearing a “Make American Great Again” hat, an accessory of choice amongst Donald Trump supporters and sold on his website for $50. Another other woman asked her to remove the hat because it was offending her and this started a fight between the two, eventually even leading to punches being exchanged in front of the other passenger at Terminal 5.
Once aboard, the fight between the two continued and the captain of the plane asked for police assistance. The two women were removed from the flight, which left at 2:11 pm instead of 12:10 pm as scheduled initially. Even though no one was arrested, both accused the other of affray.
“Shortly after 12:45 pm on Monday, 28 October, police at Heathrow were made aware of an incident involving two women waiting to board a plane in Terminal 5”, police said in a statement. “A woman in her 40s and a woman in her 60s made counter allegations of affray. Enquiries are ongoing.”
“With the US presidential election so close, tensions are sky high. Airline crew could not run the risk of a full scale punch-up at 30,000ft”, an anonymous source told The Sun. “BA officials cannot recall a flight being delayed before due to a passenger’s baseball cap. It was extraordinary.”
