A fight over an empty seat turned violent on a transpacific flight to San Francisco, forcing a trio of brave flight attendants to intervene.
Violent Fight Over Empty Seat On Transpacific EVA Flight To San Francisco
On Tuesday, May 7, 2024, EVA Airways flight BR8 took off from Tapei (TPE) in the Republic of China bound for San Francisco, California (SFO). Per EVA, the argument began after a male passenger felt “uncomfortable” when his seatmate started coughing. He rose and moved to another seat he thought was empty.
But that seat was actually occupied and when the passenger assigned to it came back, an argument broke out that led to a physical altercation.
Three brave female flight attendants immediately intervened, with two restraining one man (while other passengers restrained the other man) and one flight attendant inserting herself directly between the two. One passenger appeared to take swings at flight attendants as he attempted to resist while the other passenger eventually managed to slip out and ran toward his nemesis in an attempt to extend the flight. But the flight attendant did not get out of the way: instead, she remained between them and successfully stopped further fighting.
The captain radioed ahead to San Francisco and law enforcement met the aircraft upon arrival and detained the two men.
https://twitter.com/AlexNewsweekly/status/1788108779135082740
Flight Attendants Put Up With A Lot…
I have nothing but great praise for the three flight attendants who intervened here. Inserting themselves into this fight certainly put their own safety and well-being at risk.
It would have been nice to see more passengers (the burly male ones) intervene to try to stop both men, but I also commend the passengers who tried to help instead of just filming it.
When I first saw the video, I thought the fight was about one passenger fighting over an open seat that suddenly no longer was open when the other passenger moved back. No such fight is defensible and you are not guaranteed an open seat unless you buy one, even if the door closes and it appears you initially have an extra seat or entire row to yourself.
If you find a passenger in your assigned seat and they refuse to move, it is far better to alert the flight crew and walk away rather than engage the seat poacher.
CONCLUSION
A nasty fight broke out on a transpacific EVA flight over an empty seat that actually was not empty. Passengers who cannot control their emotions onboard do not deserve the privilege of flying on a commercial jet. Let those two swim home…
image: screengrabs from @AlexNewsweekly / X
Unfortunately I have to fly EVA shortly again (econ)…but I don’t like flights with masked flight attendants…and EVA attendants are still scaredy-cats.
Looking forward to China Airlines and Delta and Starlux entering the fold in Seattle.
what is your problem with people still wearing masks? They just want to protect themselves. What is wrong with that? FA are in an enclosed space for a while and the risk of them getting sick is high.
This person probably also accuses others of being triggered snowflakes.
Maskers are a reminder of the idiocy and cowardice combined with forced compliance in the name of “science” back in 2020.
Fauci would be proud
If you really want to protect yourself then use N95 mask properly attached and not surgical mask which is useless. Seeing people walking outside with these surgical mask. They mentally damaged from covid era mask terror. Feel pity with them,
@whocares … China Airlines’ economy seats are much too small , and their food needs improvement .
Service people have been wearing masks and gloves for a long time when working in close proximity to their customers, even before the pandemic. So why not flight attendants too, who handle your food and assist you in your personal space? You’re not losing anything unless you want to see their faces (or something else). It’s healthier for customers and passengers.
EVA is a great airline, even their economy seats are more comfortable than average.
Perhaps you should stay at home and not inflict your ignorant prejudices on innocent and educated people?
Despite the situation being completely unacceptable for a flight, I can understand why the passengers would react this way. Asian people, especially after the COVID pandemic, are still extremely wary and cautious of anyone who is showing even the slightest symptom.
To this day I still wear an N95 mask in public whenever I leave my house, especially on flights. Whenever I hear someone coughing near me, I get physically uncomfortable, which was not really the case before the pandemic. Many other Asians do the same as well because the pandemic has conditioned us to be afraid of people who are coughing — we generally assume that anyone who is coughing has the coronavirus.
Any reason why you used the “Republic of China” name instead of the common “Taiwan”?
I always like to note that Taiwan is not part of PRC…
Correct. PRC accuses Taiwan of being separatists. They are wrong. The People’s Republic of China are a bunch of separatists. They were not around when the Republic of China was established. It is the People’s Republic of China who are the separatists.
The UK did it all wrong. They should have insisted that the U.S. is part of the UK.
Not yet.
Much like the ukraine it is going to be taken back by the nation that actually has a right to it.
Funny, I would say those with a right to Taiwan are the Taiwanese people. No one else. Besides, Taiwan was never a part of the PRC anyway.
Much like Hitler had a right to Poland.
Wow, until now I didn’t think I could love EVA’s flight attendants even more. I was mistaken. Great service and brave.
+1
First I started wearing masks in Asia years before Covid. It was acceptable and considered polite. I have nothing but praise for EVA and its flight attendants. Very hard working and no nonsense has been my experience. It does not surprise me they would see maintaining order as their job. So good on them for doing just that.
While I’ve never experienced anything but a quiet cabin without drama, apparently idiots roam the world. Who would imagine it would be acceptable to appropriate another’s seat?
This is great! The flight arrived ahead of schedule and the earliest arrival of flight 8 in the past 12 days. It worked out better for all the other passengers.
The passenger whose seat was taken maybe should have tried to get a business class upgrade if all the same or better economy class seats were taken. Maybe the flight attendant would have been persuaded if asked?
Stupid is as stupid does. . .
If on a US carrier the FA’s, who consider themselves the end all be all of “first responders” would do what they normally do….run to the galley and hide, call the Captain, and expect passengers to intervene and stop it.
I love this and completely agree. They’re “here primarily for [our] safety” – a phrase that’s trotted out ad nauseum, yet they truly can’t be bothered to really do much of anything, whether it be customer service OR actually keeping us safe. But I guess I shouldn’t let the truth get in the way of the US3’s party line about FAs. That’s before you take into account that most FAs on US carriers would actually be a hindrance to safety in the event of an emergency given age, body condition, etc as displayed by what is an aging and out of shape group of employees.
There’s a joke in there somewhere. I went to a boxing match and an empty seat broke out? Ok, maybe someone can do better?