A video is being shared on a number of online forums showing a woman being removed off of a Southwest Airlines flight after an outburst ‘disrespecting’ a gate agent. Most commenters seem to stand with the agent, finding the passenger rude and wishing that airlines upheld standards for civility.
The passenger is in a wheelchair and preboarding. She is being taken onboard by a contractor. The agent scans her boarding pass, he begins to push her onto the jetbridge, and then the agent calls them back. The woman apparently called the agent a “jackass” after he scanned her boarding pass. This was the tipping point that led him to remove her from the flight.
- The agent explains she’s being denied boarding for calling him an “idiot”
- She denies it
- He concedes that, in fact, she hadn’t said idiot: “Ok, fine, it was jackass”
Lady gets kicked off flight for being rude to the boarding agent
byu/I_may_have_weed inPublicFreakout
Now, we need more gate agents paying attention to passengers as they board – stopping people who are drunk or under the influence of this-or-that substance. They could be a danger to other passengers or to the aircraft.
Unfortunately, with airlines cutting back on staff, too often there’s only one gate agent working a flight. With all of their duties to see it off on time, from dealing with standbys to answering questions, to boarding passengers and enforcing carry-on rules there’s often not enough time for this.
We don’t know what precipitated this exchange between agent and passenger. Apparently they’d interacted earlier, with his inquiring whether this was her flight. Not having the full context, I won’t judge whether his reaction to a personal incident takes things too far.
The internet does have an opinion. The passenger is called “the Leon Lett of Karens” referring to the former NFL player known for a notable blunder during a game. His line “You’re not on this flight” is especially appreciated.
I’m not 100% certain the airport where this occurred, but it looks to me like Las Vegas? I’m not overly familiar with the Southwest gates there but that’s my bet.
How totally awful. Capricious abuse of power – and no matter what happened before the marginal factor banning her from the flight is her calling him a “jackass” which is not in any way a big deal to anyone or anything except this Gate Agent’s ego – particularly when used against a person in a difficult situation, is absolutely abhorrent. As proven with reactions to the coldblooded United Healthcare assassination last month, a great many Americans have lost their moral compasses.
The only thing missing is the woman having a SWA Jesus moment, getting out of the wheelchair and storming off.
Seems awfully strange that someone just happened to be filming!
She looked for trouble and she found it. Also, her only “disability” was being a fatass.
Happy New Year!
New year. Same trash stories with no relevance to “miles, points, and frequent business travel.”
Mak,
You sound like a jackass yourself. Name-calling is not going to win anyone any favors in the public sphere. I guarantee that if you speak to any crew member like that, the Captain has full authority to remove your dumb ass. (And they will, if they have 1/2 a spine.)
This has nothing to do with UHC. You are clearly an idiot and jackass.
It appears civility no longer exists in America in any form whatsoever.
It also appears that entitlement has replaced civility.
@Eileen by god you oughta demand a full refund. Sheesh.
“@Eileen by god you oughta demand a full refund. Sheesh.”
No kidding! Why keep coming back if you don’t like the content. Someone have a gun to your head, forcing you to ready the stories here. Sheesh
It seems a little extreme but, frankly, the behavior of people the last few years is completely out of control. It doesn’t take a long time to go from a minor insult to shrieking, out of control temper tantrums and then violence. I’m personally sick of it. If she thinks a wheelchair buys her the right to be an abusive troll, she needs to be corrected. Maybe if these assholes have to pay for this behavior they’ll learn a little basic civility.
You guys are all idiots and jackasses. sHeEsH!
Yay I joined the club!
Same people, always the same ones getting wheelchairs, taking the front rows. I see it every time I fly. Assigned seating will stop most of this, even though these scam artists will find a way to scam the assigned seating. Same people – don’t believe me, go to any airport and see who is in the wheelchairs.
A lot of times I am critical of gate agents but in this case I think that the gate agent was fully in his rights to deny the passenger boarding for abusive language. There are penalties for not holding your tongue. I had problems with running afoul of language usage standards at work once. I was punished and I learned.
then, tell us what words ARE enough to have the passenger kicked off the flight? The only thing US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart is remembered for is his comment on obscenity: “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it.” That’s not enough:
I thought Trump had made name-calling okay. That’s the example he’s set.
Gary’s like, ‘we don’t know the context, so here’s a hot take to get blood flowin’
Yessir, that’s why we’re here. Let the trolling begin, fellas. I’ll pretend to enjoy the cruelty here. Both sides, very unnecessary people.
Finally, aggressive enforcement of subjective rules backed by threats of violence and persecution. We are so GREAT AGAIN, now! Accountability for corruption and failure to serve the people? Nope. Kickin’ the evil handicaps off planes for callin’ names? Yeah, boy! Punch ‘em down, like God intended! Yeehaw! Praise! Amen!
1990. BINGO!
I guess if it had been a regular passenger, the headline would have been…
‘You’re Not On This Flight!’ Southwest Agent Boots Passenger Who Was Not In A Wheelchair After Heated Clash Over ‘Jackass’ Remark
I have lost track of which victim class is superior here. Is this a case of him being racist and fatphobic or is this a case of her being homophobic and jackassophobic? I don’t know which side to root for. Tell me who is the more victimized.
Having flown millions of miles over 50 years, I can attest to the fact that gate agents and, even worse, flight attendants have morphed into dictatorial tyrants, more eager to demonstrate their unwarranted power, than to serve the public.
I never in my (long) life seen any person being rude to gate agents or aircraft stewards or stewardesses or vice versa. Every flight I have every been on (and there have bee a lot of them) the staff was helpful, the passengers pilot. Maybe incivility in the air has increased dramatically in recent years. But what I really think has increased dramatically is the people with smart phones recording it. About 2.9 million people fly per day. If only one of them acts like a jerk, I think we are doing pretty good.
FAFO!
Correction to my prior post. I did observe one stewardess speaking rudely to a passenger. It happened in Heathrow – the oh so polite British stewardess threatened to have a passenger arrested because she didn’t like how his was putting his bag into the overhead bin. And while we are at, the only time I’ve been spoke to rudely by waitstaff in a restaurant or bar was in Canada. Rule Britannia (et al)!
If agents are SOOO universally known as power-hungry tyrants… perhaps DON’T bring your pot with you round Russia?
Can’t have it both ways,
If you choose to patronize dictatorships, choose to behave.
If you choose to claim plausible deniability, keep your entitlement hidden.
Basic social rules. Add the common goal of getting from A2B and most folks get it.
“I thought Trump had made name-calling okay. That’s the example he’s set.”
Thank you Wayne. You are 100% correct.
Hmmm. .. . don’t know the entire context . . .. but it always seems to be the “usual suspects” in the middle of or starting some drama an chaos.
“Southwest Airlines”
The problem is not the airline–it’s the passengers.
I fully support the actions of the gate attendent. There’s no telling what this would-be passenger would have done once they got onboard.
There are far fewer resources to deal with unruly passengers at 35,000 feet than there is at the gate. If someone is demonstrating unruly behavior during boarding, there is little reason to expect them to comply with on board directives that are safety related when inflight. Far better to leave them behind.
The only people that I saw in a wheelchair the last time I fly were overweight lazy people who really need to walk. It’s sickening. Being fatt and lazy should not qualify you for a wheelchair. I get so sick of these people in the world sometimes
If a passenger is that argumentative then yes off the plane they should go. My biggest beef with Gate Agents is that too often they let the process get out of control with 3-4 dozen people clogging the boarding lanes once boarding commences. And no they’re not all in Group One.
If it was Las Vegas, I can believe it. I have nearly my whole left leg missing due to cancer. The prosthetic allows me to walk but more slowly and the gentle incline down the jetway makes my computer knee want to buckle, leading to risk of a fall. LV is the ONLY place where I get grilled asking for a pre-boarding pass. No other airport that I have visited ever questions my need for pre-boarding. Yes, assigned seating may obviate that need but that actually incentivizes me to ask for a wheelchair at the ticket counter so I get on early enough to get overhead bin space. That may lead to all 140+ passengers asking for wheelchair assistance! What a mess.
Most SW wheelchair passengers are abusing the system. SW shouldn’t wait to stop this abuse and require all wheelchair/disabled passengers to be assigned seating in the back rows for ease of boarding and de-boarding, first on (to the back of plane) – last off. So easy – why hasn’t SW thought of this already
Wow, Mak is a jackass! Ban ALL disrespectful passengers from flights for good: no excuse for BLATANT stupidity and bad behavior in public!
As a couple previous commenters have stated, yes it is true that since 2015 Trump has normalized bad behavior and name calling, which have seen a meteoric rise since he unfortunately came on the scene. And if Trump gets any plumper he’ll request a wheelchair to, unfortunately, make it to the podium on Jan. 20th. Lastly, in looking at the handshake photo in the Oval Office of Biden and Trump in November, which of the two looks the fittest? Hint….it’s the old guy.
@ Fordamist- I believe the quote was said regarding pornography.
Some thoughts: As Gary mentions, not aware of any previous interaction. If she did utter “jackass”, I didn’t hear it on clip. If she did say it, maybe the agent could point out he did not appreciate the comment and in the future she not use it again. Why was someone filming a W/C person getting on a plane? I worked in public transportation for 27 years and was called things a lot worse the jackass.
Gate Agent, grow thicker skin and grow up. Being in customer service all of my working life, I’ve heard worse.
Wipe your nose and find a desk job in a basement away from people.
Remember The Golden Rule. Simple.