Plane fight breaks out over woman in MAGA hat: report

Two American women were taken off a plane at Heathrow Airport after an argument broke out over a Make America Great Again (MAGA) hat.

Tensions flared at Heathrow's Terminal 5 after a passenger wearing a red hat and former President Donald Trump's MAGA slogan became the focus of a heated argument as the two women waited to board.

The incident reportedly escalated from verbal arguments 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 taken away by police.

The altercation is said to have started when the woman wearing the red MAGA hat, popular with Trump supporters, was confronted by another passenger who demanded that the hat be removed.

When the woman in the hat refused, a heated exchange is said to have turned into physical aggression, with punches breaking out between the two women, witnessed by passengers waiting for the flight.

“With the US presidential election so close, tensions are extremely high. The flight crew couldn't take the risk of an all-out brawl breaking out at 30,000 feet. BA officials can't remember a time before a flight was delayed 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 plane in premium economy class, prompting the captain to ask police for help.

Officers boarded the plane and escorted both women off the plane. Following their removal, flight BA191, which was due to depart at 12.10pm, was delayed for two hours before departing at 2.11pm without the two women on board, The Sun reported.

“We have apologized to our customers for the delay and will get it underway as quickly as possible,” a Heathrow spokesperson told The Sun.

Police said in a statement: “Shortly after 12.45pm on Monday 28 October, police at Heathrow were alerted to an incident involving two women waiting to board a plane in Terminal 5. A woman in her 40s and a woman in her 60s did it.” Counter-allegations of the affair continue.

Newsweek contacted Britain's Metropolitan Police, British Airways and Heathrow Airport by email on Wednesday for further comment.

The MAGA hat is often characterized by a red baseball cap with the slogan “Make America Great Again” embroidered in white lettering, although the colors may vary. Some capital letters simply say MAGA.

The phrase became popular during Trump's 2016 US presidential campaign, with the MAGA hat frequently worn by Trump himself, and has since become a culturally significant and often divisive symbol.

Many people wear the MAGA hat to express their 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.