Two passengers cited for fighting aboard Sun Country flight after arrival at MSP

Police at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Wednesday cited two men for allegedly fighting aboard a Sun Country plane while it was sitting at a gate in Terminal 2.

Eddy Soto, 42, of Chicago and Justin Michael Dodd, 30, of Belle Plaine each were cited for disorderly conduct/brawling or fighting.

Airport police officers responded at 5:12 p.m. Tuesday to a report of a disturbance onboard the aircraft that had arrived from Tampa, Fla., at Gate H4. They subsequently determined that two men were fighting on the plane.

Sun Country spokeswoman Wendy Burt said the flight crew immediately contacted police to meet the men involved in the incident as they left the plane. No passengers or crew members were harmed, she said.

The incident comes at a time when tensions are running high at airports nationwide, given mass cancellations and delays due to inclement weather and staff scheduling woes during the busy holiday travel season.

Southwest Airlines, one of the smaller carriers at MSP, has reported thousands of cancellations nationally in what industry analysts have dubbed a "meltdown."

Ninety flight delays were reported as of Wednesday afternoon at MSP, along with 34 cancellations — 32 of which were Southwest flights, according to the aviation website FlightAware. Twenty-six Sun Country flights were delayed Wednesday.