A late-night Spirit Airlines flight from South Carolina to Boston ended with a fight between two men that a passenger described as “a scrum going from row to row.”
In an interview Thursday, Laura A. Grome said she and her husband, Allen, had flown to Myrtle Beach, S.C., to help their daughter, Nicole, move from Coastal Carolina University to another location for the summer. A rising junior, Nicole will be interning this summer at a local television station, her mother said.
They boarded the return flight to Logan International Airport shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday and settled in for a two-hour trip. But sitting two rows away were two men who verbally sparred with each other the entire flight, said Grome, who lives in Framingham.
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“I was reading my book and not paying attention to what was being said,” she said. “It was like one of those quiet whispers when they’re really loud.”
But when the plane landed, chaos ensued.
“As soon as the plane touched down and everybody starts to stand up, then all of a sudden, the fighting starts,” she said. “It was like a scrum going from row to row.”
Grome said one passenger jumped over a row of seats to get away from the two men while she ordered her husband to get her overhead luggage while they tried to make their way to the exit.
“I heard one of the guys say, ‘What am I on? You know what I am on!’” Grome said.
As the men struggled with each other, a flight attendant put herself between them, Grome said. As the Gromes were nearing the exit, another flight attendant made an announcement that triggered a moment of dark humor.
“If you are not involved in the fight, please exit the plane,” the attendant said.
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On their way to the baggage carousel, the couple saw State Police troopers heading toward the Spirit gate. But as they waited for their luggage, the couple was stunned to see who was standing nearby.
“This is the crazy part,” she said. “The guy was walking away scot-free. One of the guys is walking away with his luggage, his little carry-on, unencumbered. That’s what bothers me.”
She said the two men should face consequences for their actions.
“You don’t know who else is on that plane, frail people, sick people. A woman six months into chemotherapy who barely has the strength to get on a flight. You don’t know,” she said. “So you act composed and civilized. There’s a protocol you are supposed to be like when you are on airplane. They failed to meet that minimum standard of behavior.”
State Police told Boston 25 News that troopers located the man whom witnesses identified as the victim in the fight. He told the troopers he was not injured and did not want to press charges, officials said.
In a statement sent to the television station, the airline said police were asked to respond to the gate “due to a disturbance” that happened while passengers were exiting the plane.
“We do not tolerate disruptive behavior of any kind and the passengers involved are no longer welcome on any of our flights,” the airline said.
John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him @JREbosglobe.