Steve Mazur, a passenger, said: "Apparently they got into a fistfight on the plane. The pilot decided to kick everyone off the plane."

Corey Minot, another passenger, said: "They told us we had to get off the plane because stewardesses were fighting."

A spokesman for Pinnacle Airlines, which operated the flight, said the argument broke out as the plane was returning to its gate after a passenger fell ill.

He said there was no physical contact between the two women and it was a "verbal disagreement."

The stewardesses have been removed from duty pending an airline investigation and the flight was cancelled. Alternative travel plans were made for passengers.

"The acts described are not acceptable," the spokesman said.