An entire Frontier Airlines plane had to be deboarded on 9 May after a female passenger sitting in the exit row refused to comply with the additional responsibility that comes with the extra leg room.
A video that has since gone viral on TikTok shows the unnamed woman arguing with flight attendants. The clip already shows the arguments, but Tia (travelwithtia23 on TikTok), who shared the video, explained that before she started filming, the unruly passenger told cabin crew “Oh, I’m not savin’ nobody. If sumphin happen, I’m gonna save myself”.
“That was her attitude throughout the seating process. And I already knew something was about to pop off when she had that attitude”, Tia explained. The video then shows the rest of the altercation, with the woman trying to claim she did in fact agree with the requirements and refusing to get off the plane when asked.
“What’s the problem? We ain’t got no problem with that. We understand we gotta help people get off the plane and help Betty White if something happens”, the woman can be heard saying while casually snacking in front of the flight attendant. “You wasting your breath. Is they gonna take this plane off the ground?”
Another airline employee then approached the woman, but she was received with a “You better get out my face is what you need to do, Betty.” The woman continued to insist there was no problem and said she was not getting off the plane as she needed to pick up her nephew or grandson from school as the boy’s mother was out of town.
She was eventually escorted off the plane and arrested by police officers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, but, in the meantime, the entire plane had to deboard. The same video shows her getting off the plane in handcuffs, to the clear delight of the passengers heard cheering and clapping in the background.
Frontier Airlines passenger incapable of societal peace, decides she'll make every passenger get off the plane after she refused to comply with exit row instructions, gets arrested.
— Dane (@UltraDane) May 21, 2024
"Oh, I'm not savin nobody. If sumpin happen, I'm gonna save myself"
She's literally incapable of… pic.twitter.com/2gaMGyEo4i
An analysis on unruly passengers conducted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and released last summer shows that the number of incidents involving disruptive passengers has increased post-pandemic. The study compares 2022 to 2021 figures and shows that there were 61% more reports in 2022 than during the previous year.
Although non-compliance incidents initially fell after the mask mandates were removed on most flights, the frequency began to rise again throughout 2022. The most common examples of in-flight non-compliance were found to be smoking of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, vapes and puff devices in the cabin or lavatories, failure to fasten seatbelts when instructed, exceeding the carry-on baggage allowance or failing to store baggage when required and the consumption of own alcohol on board.
