A United Airlines flight was forced to turn around hours into the trip after a passenger got into a shouting match with crew members.
The flight, from Newark Liberty International Airport, was three hours into the journey to Tel Aviv, Israel, on Sunday April 23 when the "disruptive passenger" began a shouting at flight crew.
Other passengers on the 10-hour flight apparently only found out they were heading back to the US from looking at the flight maps on their screens.
One, identified only as Sholomit, spoke to Ynet news about what unfolded.
She explained that the passenger had wanted to use the bathroom, and while waiting for one to become available he sat in a seat reserved for crew members only.
When a crew member called him out on it, the man responded by raising his voice, sparking a shouting match with the employee.
"Crew members told him that if he did not return to his seat, the plane would be turned back to New York," Sholomit said.
She added that he did not believe flight attendants at first, even ridiculing them.
However staff were true to their word and the flight did, in fact, turn around to head back to the US.
"No one bothered to inform us," Sholomit said. "We just noticed it on the map showing our flight path and when we landed, we saw the police waiting for the plane."
Other passengers posted videos of the unidentified man being escorted off the plane. Passengers can be heard in the background asking "what did he do?" as crew members walk the man to an exit.
It has been reported that the passenger was then seen wandering around the airport "pleading his case" to other travellers, insisting that the flight crew had overreacted.
As there was no space for the plane to take off again for Tel Aviv, remaining passengers were forced to disembark and have their trip postponed.
The flight was rescheduled for Sunday evening.
United Airlines confirmed the flight was stopped and turned around after the man's behaviour and that he was removed by law enforcement.
In a statement the airline said: "United flight 90 traveling from Newark to Tel Aviv returned to Newark shortly after takeoff due to a disruptive passenger.
"Law enforcement met the aircraft and removed the passenger. We rebooked our customers onto a new flight that departed Sunday evening."
One passenger, Jeff Hunt, took to Twitter to document his lengthy experience of attempting to travel to Israel over the weekend.
His first flight from Washington DC was "cancelled due to weather", so he took the train to Newark for another flight. He explained that this flight was then delayed two and a half hours due to weather before the incident with the "unruly passenger" saw the plane turning back.
After all the passengers disembarked from the returned flight, Mr Hunt posted a video of the man "pleading his case" with fellow passengers, saying he was "not even arrested".
Speaking to Fox 5 New York, Mr Hunt explained how he was asleep and heard the pilot come over the intercom. He said the pilot said "he's been made aware of disruptive passengers and that if people don't settle down, he's going to turn the plane around."
Not knowing the details of what had happened, Mr Hunt and other passengers trusted the airlines decision to turn around - fearing the passenger may have become violent or pose a threat.
But after they landed, he said: "This guy just walks by, and he's escorted by one flight attendant and the guy's not handcuffed. He's not making a big scene."
