Flight captain loses it at passengers bickering over US election

WHEN passengers on this flight clashed over the US presidential election, the fed-up captain went on an extraordinary rant — and it was all caught on video.

A United Airlines passenger has captured the extraordinary tirade by a pilot after passengers erupted in a politically-charged fight on board a flight from the US to Mexico. Picture: YouTube/Jon Bauer

THE messy business of the presidential election in the United States has left Americans tense, cranky and exhausted — especially this flight captain.

After passengers on his United Airlines flight started bickering about politics in the days after Donald Trump was announced as US President-elect, the fed-up pilot took to the plane’s PA system and ordered everyone to pipe down in a glorious rant.

A video of the incident on the flight from San Francisco to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico was uploaded to YouTube by passenger Jon Bauer.

He said the scuffle started when someone wearing “a plaid shirt and camo cap said something racist (about being ‘glad to have kept his guns’) to an African American lady, and she began to cry and freak out”.

Flight crew separated the two, and then the flight’s captain got on the PA system for his extraordinary announcement.

“We’re gonna be in a metal tube at 35,000 feet,” the pilot said.

“I understand everybody has their opinions, that’s fine. If you support him, great. If you don’t, I understand. However, we’re out here to go to Puerto Vallarta to have a good time.”

The pilot then urged passengers to “have the common decency to respect each other’s decisions” and asked they keep their political views to themselves during the three hour and 15 minute flight.

“Let cooler heads prevail and we can talk and realise that we’re all human beings, and we all can stick together and we can all feel for this country in our own way and that’s what we should do,” he said.

“If there’s anybody that has a problem with this … there’s another flight tomorrow. You’re not gonna be on this one.”

The cabin erupted into applause at the end of the pilot’s rant.

In a statement to the Washington Post, a spokeswoman for United Airlines confirmed the incident, saying: “Our pilot was attempting to diffuse an argument between two customers and get everyone safely to their destination”.

The spokeswoman said no one was removed from the flight.