Israel-Bound United Airlines Flight Forced To Take U-Turn After 'Unruly' Passenger's Altercation With Crew

A United Airlines flight en route to Israel reportedly returned to its origin Sunday morning after an unruly passenger broke into a verbal altercation with crew members.

Flight 90, which took off from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, made a U-turn three hours into the 10-hour trip, the New York Post reported.

The mayhem started when the passenger, who was queuing up for the bathroom, sat on a seat reserved for the crew members only. When a flight attendant rebuked him, the man got into a screaming match with the former, who threatened to turn back the flight, an eyewitness told the Israeli publication Ynet.

The unidentified eyewitness said the passenger laughed off the crew member's threat. Then, she added, the flight unexpectedly diverted to Newark without prior notice to the other passengers on board. Passengers only figured the flight had reversed its course by looking at the flight tracking website Flight Radar 24.

The disruptive passenger was arrested when the plane touched down at Newark Airport.

A video shared by a passenger on board showed the "unruly" man being escorted off the plane.

"Trying to make it to Tel Aviv. First flight from DC canceled due to weather. No worries. Took 3hr train to Newark. Flight delayed 2.5hrs due to weather. 4hrs into flight, unruly passenger requires return to Newark," the passenger, Jeff Hunt, wrote in his tweet.

United Airlines told the New York Post that the plane was turned back due to the unruly behavior of a passenger, but refrained from giving some additional information. The passenger whose tweet showed the man's removal from the plane told Insider that he never got physical with the crew member, and said the crew overreacted.

"He just kind of hung around everybody, which was bizarre and bold," Hunt said. "If I was escorted off an airplane I would have hung my head in shame and disappeared, but he spent four hours talking to people."

The issue ultimately left the passengers stranded at the airport and waiting for the rescheduling of the flight. Scenes in the airport became chaotic as frustrated passengers were forced to wait for almost four hours to collect their hotel vouchers.