by Two American women were kicked off a plane at Heathrow Airport after a fight broke out over a Make America Great Again (MAGA) hat.
Tensions flared at Heathrow Terminal 5 after a passenger wearing a red hat bearing former President Donald Trump’s MAGA slogan became the center of a heated altercation, as the two women waited to board.
The incident reportedly escalated from verbal exchanges to a physical confrontation between the two women, aged between 40 and 60, on Monday. After boarding the British Airways flight to Austin, Texas, they were eventually removed by police.
The altercation reportedly began when the woman wearing the red MAGA hat, popularized by Trump supporters, was confronted by another passenger, who demanded that the hat be removed.
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When the woman in the hat refused, a heated exchange of words allegedly turned into a physical assault, with punches exchanged between the two women, observed by passengers waiting to board the plane.
“With the US presidential election so close, tensions are extremely high. The airline’s crew could not risk a full-scale punch-up at 30,000 feet. BA officials do not recall “Not that a flight has been delayed before because of a passenger’s baseball cap. It was extraordinary,” a source at Heathrow Airport told the British newspaper. The Sun.
The confrontation continued aboard the premium economy plane, prompting the captain to seek police assistance.
The officers boarded the plane and escorted the two women from the plane. Following their withdrawal, flight BA191, which was due to take off at 12:10 p.m., was delayed by two hours before taking off at 2:11 p.m. without the two women on board, as reported by The Sun.
“We have apologized to our customers for the delay and had them leave as quickly as possible,” a Heathrow spokesperson told The Sun.
The police said in a statement: “Shortly after 12.45pm on Monday October 28, Heathrow Police were notified of an incident involving two women waiting to board a plane at Terminal 5. A woman in their 40s and a woman in her 60s came forward against the fight allegations. Investigations are underway.
News week contacted the UK Metropolitan Police, British Airways and Heathrow Airport via email on Wednesday for further comment.
The MAGA hat is often characterized by a red baseball cap bearing the slogan Make America Great Again, in embroidered white letters, although colors may vary. Some capital letters simply say MAGA.
The phrase was popularized during Trump’s 2016 US presidential campaign, with the MAGA cap often worn by Trump himself, and it has since become a culturally significant and often divisive emblem.
Many people wear MAGA hats to express support for Trump and his policies, and for some, the hat is seen as a representation of American conservatism and nationalism. Others see it as a symbol of controversy and political division.
