#UnitedAirlines is trending on social media after a yoga teacher on board a United Airlines plane from Honolulu to Japan became violent. The man fought with United Airlines crew after he was told not to practice yoga and to sit on his chair.
The #UnitedAirlines has many people laughing after they learned that a United Airlines passenger, who happens to be a yoga instructor, got into a fight with crew members because he was told not to meditate.
On Saturday, United Airlines Flight 903 left Honolulu for Tokyo’s Narita International Airport but was forced to return to the island about one hour after takeoff. The reason?
Hyongtae Pae, 72, a Korean native and yoga teacher, refused to follow flight attendants’ orders to stay seated. According to several witnesses, the man screamed at the crew in Korean and became violent after he was told to take his place as the meals were being served.
The elderly man, who claimed he had not slept in 11 days, refused to sit and told the crew that he wanted to do yoga and meditate instead.
Pae, who was seen pushing his wife numerous times, was invited to the aircraft’s aft galley to blow off steam and sat down in the middle of it. However, Pae kept screaming and refused to return to his seat, which prompted five U.S. Marines on the flight to put restraints on him and take him back to his seat.
Pae threatened to kill one of the Marines as he was placing him in restraints and tried to head-butt another, according to the criminal complaint and affidavit filed in federal court by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In an interview with the FBI, the couple said they knew that they needed to follow the directions of the flight crew, but didn’t know that disobeying them was illegal.
A United Airlines spokeswoman confirmed that the flight returned to Honolulu due to a disruptive passenger and was met by law enforcement but declined to share more details on the incident.
