Spirit Passengers Call Staff Member Slew of Names in Viral Airport Meltdown
Two men were filmed yelling obscenities at a Spirit Airlines crewmember last week after being allegedly barred from boarding their flight.
A video of the meltdown, which was posted to TikTok by a Spirit Airlines passenger under the username skkkkrrrttttt1233, has since gone viral with more than 127,000 views. And though some commenters were disappointed by the outburst, the video is one of many that highlights the kind of "unruly" behavior airline crews have come to expect from passengers.
The video opened with the two men arguing with the Spirit gate agent about their "canceled" flight.
"You can't just cancel my flight," said one of the men as the other stepped away from the desk.
As the first man attempts to receive answers, the second man—who is now standing several paces away from the employee—yells, "F**king c**t."
The first man continues to say that they "don't got money like that," as the second continues to shout, "F**k you." Near the end of the video, the second man can also be heard yelling something about a "mask," but it's unclear what is said.
In a follow-up video, the second man calls the crewmember a "fat f**king c**t," and again makes a comment about wearing a mask. Some commenters believed that the two men, who are not wearing masks in the video, were likely told to don their masks before boarding their flight.
Still, it's not clear what led to the verbal confrontation. Newsweek reached out to Spirit Airlines for comment.
As of March 21, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has reported 961 "unruly" passenger reports, 635 of which were related to facemasks.
"People have turned a health issue into a political one. Not wearing a mask is a platform people use to express their opinions," Jeffrey Price, an aviation security consultant and professor at the Metropolitan State University of Denver, told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
In addition to tensions surrounding masks, former top FAA lawyer Loretta Alkalay also told the paper that "overcrowding, flight cancellations, the availability of alcohol, and the fact that people have forgotten how to behave around others during the isolation of the pandemic" have contributed to this bad behavior.
In 2020, the FAA initiated 183 investigations into unruly passenger behavior. However, that number increased significantly last year, with more than 1,100 investigations initiated and "$5 million in [proposed] fines against unruly passengers."
"Following the rapid increase in incidents in late 2020, the FAA initiated a Zero-Tolerance Policy against unruly passengers; launched an unruly-passenger public awareness campaign featuring video PSAs, memes and signage that airports can display in public areas; and held stakeholder meetings with carriers, airports, labor and law enforcement to discuss best practices and next steps," said the FAA in a statement to Newsweek.
"Additionally, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson sent a letter to airports asking them, among other things, to work with concessionaires to avoid giving passengers to-go cups of alcohol before they board their flight," the statement continued.
One of skkkkrrrttttt1233's commenters called the men's behavior in the video "embarrassing," and some argued they should be placed on a "No Fly" list.
"People are so embarrassing I literally cannot," wrote balongi0110.
"Put them on the 'No Fly List' for that verbal assault," said Angie Lancaster.
As previously stated, this isn't the first time an incident like this has been captured on camera. Over the summer, a woman was filmed throwing objects at check-in officers while screaming obscenities at them. And in August, one man's "violent, racist rampage" at the Miami International Airport went viral on Twitter.
