PROVO, Utah — An argument over a passenger’s refusal to wear a face mask resulted in a fight onboard a flight headed to Utah on Saturday night.
A spokesperson for Allegiant Air confirmed to the Arizona Republic that the altercation happened on Flight 607, which was headed to Provo, Utah, from Mesa, Arizona, after a passenger refused to comply with airline policy about face masks.
Rylie Lansford, who was sitting next to the two men, got out of the way after the first punch was thrown and began recording, KSL reported. Lansford filmed the brief, profanity-laced altercation and posted it to her Instagram account.
“It was absolutely insane to me because it’s all about a mask, and it didn’t need to get that way,” Lansford told KSL.
Honaker agreed.
“It didn’t need to escalate to that,” Honaker told the television station. “It did not.”
Lansford told the television a passenger in the row behind her, identified by Mesa police as Rio James Honaker, 52, of American Fork, Utah, was arguing with the flight attendant about wearing a face mask. While the man was wearing a face shield, the airline’s policy also requires a face mask.
According to Allegiant’s face-covering policy, masks must be “of a solid material, fully cover the mouth and nose, fit snugly against the face, and be secured under the chin.” The airline hands out masks to passengers boarding the flight.
“They made it clear,” Rylie told KSL. “Yes, 100%."
“No, (I was) not belligerent,” Honaker told the television station. “Was I standing up for myself? Absolutely. And I will continue to stand up.”
Lansford said a passenger sitting next to her turned around and began to heckle Honaker.
“(He said) ‘It’s called COVID,’” Lansford said. “You could just feel that something physical was going to start happening.
“At first, I thought it was banter between friends cause it was kind of weird, but then you quickly learned that the words that they were saying to each other were not friendly,” she said.
The war of words continued as the flight attendant attempted to escort Honaker off the plane, and the two men began to scuffle for less than a minute before it was broken up, Lansford told the Republic.
“I was right next to them," Lansford told KSL. "I didn’t want to get in the middle of that.”
In an emailed statement, the airline confirmed the incident.
“While the passenger was being escorted off the plane, he had an altercation with another passenger," Allegiant officials told the Republic. “Law enforcement was called to assist.”
Honaker told KSL he wants an apology from the airline, claiming he was targeted and harassed by flight attendants.
Mesa Police Det. Jason Flam said officers removed Honaker from the flight after he became “confrontational with a flight attendant when asked multiple times to put a mask on.” The other passenger was allowed to stay on the plane.
Rylie said she hopes her next flight will be quieter.
“If you’re buying a plane ticket, you must follow the rules or you gotta drive somewhere,” Lansford told KSL.