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By Sara Santora
Writer, Trends
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A video showing a Spirit Airlines passenger screaming about "racism" in a Las Vegas airport has gone viral on social media.
An anonymous social media user named Misha (@mishaaaaaaaah) posted the video to TikTok over the weekend, writing: "Free entertainment in Vegas." It has amassed over 930,000 views and more than 1,700 comments. You can watch the full video here.
Unruly passenger behavior is becoming more commonplace within the airline industry. Data from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed that there were 5,981 reports of unruly passengers in 2021—the worst on record, CNN reported. The rate of incidents has dropped by nearly 60 percent "since record-highs in early 2021;" however, the FAA says there is still "more work" to do.
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'This is Bulls**t'
The passenger in Misha's video appears to be yelling at a gate agent after presumably being kicked off his flight.
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"This is racism," the man yelled. "This is bulls**t...[you] invaded Mar-a-Lago, and now you're doing this."
He continues screaming obscenities at the gate agent and then tells them to "call security" and the "FBI."
"Because I'm white, you're going to f**king invade me?" he asked. "I was sitting on the f**king plane...my seatbelt was f**king buckled...this is racism, this is back to 1955."
'Passenger Agression'
Unfortunately, airline industry workers, particularly flight attendants, are used to dealing with the type of "aggression" the Spirit Airlines passenger displayed, said CNN.
"We also have a lot of incidents that are happening more regularly that are violent maybe not directly toward someone, but in actions and words: punching backs of seats, spitting, throwing trash at people, yelling obscenities, using racial, gender and homophobic slurs," Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, told CNN in January.
"Today, when flight attendants put on their uniforms, they don't know if it's going to be a signal of leadership and authority for safety in the cabin or a target for a violent attack," she said.
In May 2021, for example, a woman was arrested for repeatedly attacking one flight attendant and verbally abusing another. Last October, a man was caught threatening to find his flight attendant's name and social security number. And a flight to Florida was diverted in February after a passenger allegedly threatened to "kill everyone."
Viewers React
Some of Misha's users were shocked by the passenger's tirade; however, many couldn't help but mock him.
"Spirit Airlines invaded Mar-a-Lago? I must have missed a couple [of] news cycles," MITCHELL WIGGS wrote.
"Did he just accuse the gate agent of raiding Mar-a-Lago?" Mbcs asked, followed by a laughing face emoji.
"I was physically RECOILING watching this," Andrea AA said.
"There's A LOT to unpack here," Cee Velasquez added.
Newsweek has reached out to Misha and Spirit Airlines for comment.
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