Passenger Disturbance Forces Oakland-Bound Southwest Flight to Return to Honolulu

An Oakland-bound Southwest flight returned to Honolulu due to a "passenger disturbance" in the air.

Weary passengers from Southwest flight 8909 from Honolulu waited for their bags at Oakland International Airport Wednesday as many said they were supposed to be home Tuesday.

“I thought we kind of lucked out because our flight didn't get canceled, it was just delayed two hours,” said Danny Gardner of Oakland.

According to the passengers, they were already in flight almost two hours in when an incident happened.

“Something about a seat being pushed back and spilling a drink,” said Concord resident Nohad Videau. “I heard loud voices and ice cubes being thrown all over the place.”

“The pilot said if you kids don’t stop fighting, I’m gonna turn this plane around and go back to Honolulu. I thought he was joking,” Gardner said.

The flight was diverted back to Hawaii as a result. One of the people involved in the incident was later escorted off the plane.

Southwest Airlines told NBC Bay Area in a statement that the flight was diverted “due to the behavior of customers on board.”

But the drama didn’t end there.

Shortly after the U-turn, a medical emergency occurred. Though it’s unclear if it was related to the earlier disruption.

The incident comes as Southwest is experiencing cancelations galore.

More than 12,000 Southwest Airlines flights were canceled this week and 24,000 more flights are expected to be canceled for Thursday.

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association said that they have been warning of this for five years and in the last two years, they said that they had seen more meltdowns.

Airline experts said it’s a trifecta of bad weather and bad systems.

Passengers on the flight from Honolulu told NBC Bay Area they were put up in hotels, they were given $300 and will be reimbursed for any money spent on food or rideshare fares.

Southwest has also rolled out a new website to submit requests for any refunds.