Two pilots allegedly got into an argument and "couldn't get along" on an Alaska Airlines plane on Monday, causing the flight from the Washington Dulles International Airport to the San Francisco International Airport to be delayed, according to One Mile at a Time.
A number of passengers who were on the flight took to Twitter and posted about the pilots causing the flight to get delayed for more than two hours after they were already delayed because of bad weather.
The flight tracking websites Cirium and FlightAware showed that Alaska Airlines flight AS1080 was delayed by about two and a half hours.
An Alaska Airline spokesperson told FOX Business that the pilots "had a professional disagreement," and the plane was forced to return to the gate before swapping crews and then taking off for San Francisco.
"While this situation was unfortunate, in the interest of safety, the pilots did the right thing," Alaska Airlines said. "Both the captain and the first officer were evaluated by management, and it was determined they remained fit to fly. We swapped crews and the flight continued to San Francisco. We apologized to our guests for the inconvenience this caused."
Twitter users said that the pilots got off the plane due to "a failure to get along."
"hey @AlaskaAir after being on a plane waiting out a storm for 2 hrs (AS1080) your pilots just pulled back to the gate and got off the plane because of a 'failure to get along.' incredibly unprofessional. flight attendants are doing their best and have no idea what’s going on," the tweet said.
"@AlaskaAir. First (and last) time flying with you.... After an hour and a half delay, we now return to the terminal due to 'a failure of the captain and first officer to get along'. All I can say is wow....just wow," another user tweeted.
Two other passengers tweeted a similar message, and added that one of pilots then left the plane after the argument.
"@tomcostellonbc this is a first for me. Alaska #1080 from IAD to SFO, already delayed due to weather, comes back to gate. Pilot says he and his first officer can’t get along… so in the interest of safety..' and then leaves the plane," the person tweeted.
"#alaska 1080 just returned to gate because the pilot and copilot couldn’t get along. Seriously. Pilot just left plane fuming after returning to gate from the tarmac. This is absolute ridiculous," another tweeted.
One of the passengers continued to tweet about the delayed flight, and even posted a video of the pilot walking away in the airport. Alaska Airlines replied only to the video, and said, "For the safety and privacy of our employees, we do ask that any images or videos of employees please be removed. You are welcome to DM them to us."
A fifth passenger replied to someone else's tweet with a video from their seat while an apology announcement was made on the flight. The person can be heard saying in the video, "Can't we all just get along?"
According to One Flight at a Time, Alaska Airlines found a replacement pilot from a different flight that was scheduled to fly to Los Angeles the same day. The Los Angeles flight ended up having even longer delays after needing to find another replacement pilot.
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