Fight breaks out on EVA Air flight to San Francisco

Cabin crew lounge of a Fly Guy /

An altercation between two passengers over an empty seat escalated into a fight on an EVA Air flight from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) on May 7, 2024.

Flight BR 08 took off from TPE Airport and was only three hours into the 11-hour flight when the fight began.

EVA Air told local Taiwanese media that the commotion started when a passenger decided to change seats because the person next to him was coughing. According to the airline, the man found an empty seat and sat in it. However, the original occupant of the seat returned a few minutes later – and that’s when the confrontation began.

Video footage of the scuffle was posted by A Fly Guy’s Cabin Crew Lounge, a Facebook page with more than a million followers in the aviation industry.

The clip showed the two men exchanging punches while a flight attendant placed herself between the two men to defuse the situation. Two other flight attendants can be seen restraining one of the men, while other passengers intervened to restrain the other man.

Flight attendants then placed the men in separate areas of the plane for the remainder of the flight.

The men were turned over to airport police when the flight arrived at SFO.

EVA Air also said it had a zero-tolerance policy towards incidents of “passenger nuisance” and praised its staff for their quick response.