Wild video shows a passenger with an oversized hiking backpack leans over the counter at Orlando airport’s gate 125, arguing with a Southwest Airlines agent. She gestures wildly toward the jet bridge door but she’s blocked from boarding.
She storms into the concourse, still shouting toward staff. You can see the Southwest “A 1–15” stanchion, purple Priority placard, and a line of Southwest-branded wheelchairs and Southwest agents in blue shirts. The woman circles back toward the gate desk to continue her dispute.
Rage against the machine ♂️ | #ONLYinDADE pic.twitter.com/SUn6a0jyhQ
— ONLY in DADE (@ONLYinDADE) August 19, 2025
Southwest uses Airside 2 (gates 100-129) at the Orlando airport and this appears to be gate 125. I initially misread the blurry video of the gate sign as J25, and went down a rabbit hole over whether this might actually be Miami based on the carpeting, and that Southwest operates from G/H there (and there’s no J25 at MIA).
The dispute seems likely to be about the size of the woman’s carry-on bag, although it’s possible she was late to the flight. Although given her behavior the boarding refusal could have been behavioral!
Well, at least it wasn’t a Florida ‘man’ this time…
(Before anyone gets upset, I’ve lived in the state, and recognize bad behavior exists everywhere, not just Florida. It’s about bad actors, individuals, not groups, regardless of residency.)
LET ME ON LET ME ON LET ME ON (followed by violent actions/gestures) is as effective as yelling I AM NOT UNDER ARREST I AM NOT UNDER ARREST while a cop is putting the cuffs on.
Def MCO.
I doubt it’s about the backpack. It looks huge mainly because it’s attached to an extremely short person.
I am so very tired of these ginormous backpacks that are stuffed with enough gear to climb Mt Fuji that are being hoisted in to the overhead bins like a size nine foot in a size seven shoe.. Even the children are seen trying to drag these things on. Don’t be so cheap. Just Check a bag. A simple solution is to check the size at the gate (they rarely do) and make them pay dearly. That would change the culture.
@MIkey01 — If it is fits, it’s fine; if not, yes, gate-check. Recent flight, someone purchased an extra economy seat for their cello; if they’re willing to pay for that ‘special treatment,’ I don’t see a problem. The issue here is less about the backpack or carry-on, and more about the bad behavior.
*If it fits… (sheesh)
@1990: Flight Attendant here. “If it fits” is not a solution. Carry-on bags should be limited to the typical rollerboard bag dimensions, and this woman’s bag appears to be well over that size. The overhead bins – approximately the length of two rows of seats – are each shared by up to 6 people (even the new, larger overhead bins that take rollerboards on their side fit 6).
When a passenger brings a bag like that one instead, which likely will be loaded “front to back” in the bin, they are taking up the storage space that 3-4 other passengers need. Others later in the boarding process will have to check theirs, because passengers like this think they are entitled to cram oversized bags into a bin for their exclusive use.
As these bigger bins become more common, if everyone complied with the size restrictions – “one carry-on, one small item” (one in the overhead, one under the seat in front of you) there’s a spot for everybody’s bags.
Again toddler like behavior in adults. If I scream enough “mommy” will give me my bottle. Cuff, arrest, take to jail, put on a Do Not Fly List, spend a few days in the pokey. The toddler like behavior will end.
@Bea Real — Thank you for reading and responding. Debating semantics is our ‘bread and butter’ on here. You are always welcome.
Once more, my point with @MIkey01 was that it was NOT the carry-on at-issue here; rather, it was the passenger’s bad behavior.
But, okay, I’ll bite, let’s make this about the ‘carry-on’ size and the ‘rules’ the airline sets about it. Please accept my clarification that ‘if it fits’ was meant as ‘if an item is within the defined size constraints as determined by the airline and its crew.’
Now, as to those sizes, of course, if it’s an airline like Southwest, which operates only 737 variants today, perhaps a standard size constraint is indeed appropriate, and for efficiency when boarding, all passengers must use the ‘test bin’ to ensure they are complaint.
However, even on the 737, as you should be aware, the first several rows overhead bins are not compatible with ‘wheels-in-first’ and often those roller-carry-on bags must be put in horizontally (maybe you prefer ‘perpendicular,’ etc.) I know, I know… ‘nuance’…
Let’s go further, in a hypothetical, where your airline operates many different aircraft types. On the smaller side, those CRJs and ERJs often have smaller overhead bins, and typical rolly-carry-on must go sideways, unless there is a First Class cabin, where they can go wheels-in-first. On the bigger end, a 767 (and some 777s) may have larger bins on the outside (windows) and smaller bins on the inside (middle of the two aisles). Again, this ‘nuance…’ sheesh!
Ultimately, yes, if you’re the gate agent or the crew, you get the discretion to treat passengers and their items as you wish, sometimes rigidly in accordance with defined rules, other times with the practical approach of trying to get everyone and their things on-board safely, timely, and comfortably. I respect what you and crews do every day for us passengers. Please keep coming to VFTW to share you thoughts, too!
The real solution is to give each person an overhead bin that just fits a small roller bag. Label each bin to a particular seat. End of issue. Doesn’t fit. Check.
@Bea Real — regarding this, “As these bigger bins become more common, if everyone complied with the size restrictions – “one carry-on, one small item” (one in the overhead, one under the seat in front of you) there’s a spot for everybody’s bags.”
I know there is a constant problem with people putting their personal item, coat, etc. into the overheads. However, will Gate Checking be reduced? This video shows three things:
1) Some luggage is loaded on end (this plane has the newer, larger bins)
2) His video shows 2 empty bins, two approximately half full (although they look more full in the video because people loaded their bag sideways), and one bin can get another bag into it.
3) His comment says the flight had, “many open seats.”
Link to video:
https://x.com/SteveSchoenherr/status/1948388326316057055/video/2
I realize that more people are bringing bags to avoid checked bag fees and that some people are selfish and put their personal item up top instead of under the seat in front of them. But I don’t understand why the GA forced people to check bags with larger bins , but I don’t understand why there was any need to check bags if there were larger bins and not a full plane.
Is this a case of a GA that needs to be retrained?
@XYZ RE: Why the gate agents say to “Check your bag” and the bins sometimes still have room
Consider the problem the gate agents have, and the variables in play, with determining available bid space (while standing up at the gate) as passengers board the flight:
1) Some passengers have already boarded and taken their seat – how many put their (smaller, that could fit under the seat) bags in the overhead, taking up more space than you anticipated? How many put their bags in sideways and later closed the bins, so they could take more but appear full?
2) How many passengers are still standing in the jetway? And how many of those have rollerboards that will also go in the overhead bins?
3) How accurately can the flight attendants on board actually see how many more bags can actually be accommodated before all the overhead bins are all full?
The gate agents can never actually tell how much bin space remains, standing up in the terminal. It’s always an educated guess based on experience, visual observations of the carry-on bags they see, etc. On some airlines, we FAs can communicate with the gate agents, and we text how much space we have (“We can take 10 more bags!”). That helps a lot to determine the cutoff for carry-on bags, but it’s not a perfect system. I’m not sure if all airlines do this – so I believe some just enforce “Check all bags after Group (x)” to try to minimize boarding delays due to bags.
What I am sure of is that flights get significantly delayed getting off the gate when a passenger ends up at the very back of the plane, during boarding, because they cannot find an overhead spot for their bag. Now, they cannot “swim upstream” until boarding is nearly complete… at which time their bag must get tagged (provide a tag, get their name on it, make sure it has the right destination…) and then it must go down the jetbridge stairs and get loaded.
Having that happen with just one passenger can easily mean 5 mins longer to push back than if it was just gate checked. And most airlines will tag the delay to the gate agent for not managing the bags correctly. Therefore – whether fair or not – agents will be inclined to get bags checked as early as possible to protect their own job.
I’m not agreeing with the system as it operates – just shining a light on why it is the way it is.
Wow, what a freak show of an angry kicking passenger!
If every passenger misbehaved like her, the airlines would install plexiglass as a barrier for gate agents the same way bank tellers have a barrier.
Yes, her backpack is gigantic and looks over the allowable size limit to me.
I’ve seen too many passengers with oversized backpacks being careless.
They walk down the narrow aisle on the plane, turn right or left, and the person sitting in the aisle seat gets wacked/assaulted by the backpack. I try to stay away from these people.
@OnePatriot77 — An inanimate object can’t ‘assault’ anyone. In a criminal contest, assault requires ‘intent,’ so, this is more of an accidental thing, like ‘negligence,’ but you are correct, please should be more careful with their baggage on-board!
My issue with the luggage is when I get told I have to check a bag (due to others large bags not the size of mine) but am told I can’t check a bag with Lithium batteries in it… Ran into that on a CRJ out of DTW to GRR in April. Had to dig out all my batteries from the Roll-on amidst my clothes etc in the entryway and move them to my backpack, which then had to be shoved in the FAs luggage spot because it was the first row in “1st class”
That kinda stuff is just asinine even if it’s for ensuring we don’t all blow up. Stop over selling CRJ flights.
So the backpack looks quite a lot like the REI Flash 55.
I’m not entirely certain — last frame of video almost seems like a military style pack — but in most of the video, it looks like the Flash 55.
Funny enough, the Flash 55 = 27 X 14 X 12, when fully packed. In other words, larger than carry-on size. When I sell backpacks to people who want to use them for travel, I ask “how upset will you be if you get asked to check your bag? Because this one is (1 inch), (3 inches), etc out of carry-on specs.” This customer should have understood that her backpack was too big…
Gary covering another person behaving badly. Guess it was slow in the points and travel space.
What @George Romey said.
If I go through the time and effort to check a bag, then there shouldn’t be any issue with putting my briefcase and jacket in the overhead bin. There’s precious little legroom and giving it up for someone in too much of a hurry to check their bag isn’t in the cards.