A passenger on an American Airlines flight was kicked off earlier this week after telling a flight attendant to “shut up” during the pre-flight safety demonstration.
The incident, which occurred this week Tuesday on a flight from Costa Rica to Dallas, was captured on video and has since gone viral on Instagram. The clip shows the woman interrupting the safety briefing and telling the attendant she “should shut up,” prompting the crewmember to confront her directly.
“Do you want to get off the plane? Because I don’t feel comfortable with you if you’re not going to follow instructions,” the flight attendant responded, according to the footage.
When questioned further, the passenger claimed she “couldn’t hear” the announcements. The attendant dismissed that excuse, saying, “You’re not on my list as someone who can’t hear. So I’m going to ask the pilot to remove you because you’re not complying.”
The situation escalated when the passenger was also accused of not turning off her phone.
After a tense exchange, she was escorted off the aircraft.
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The video was posted by fellow passenger Jay Crenshaw, who wrote, “empty middle seat is a win for me.” Crenshaw later told reporters he sympathized with both sides: “She was having a bad morning and was obviously irritated about something.
The flight attendant might’ve caught a stray, but the passenger knows she was wrong.”
He added, “I’m not excusing her behavior, but we’ve all had bad days and said things we regret. She just happened to get filmed.”
American Airlines has not publicly commented on the incident.