A furious video showing disgruntled passengers arguing with staff from Spirit Airlines at Hollywood Burbank Airport in California has surfaced online. The video was taken after a flight had been delayed for eight hours.
People who witnessed the event said things escalated when more passengers arrived at the gate and started arguing. Kevin Eis, a passenger, recorded a video showing one of the airline workers begging people to be quiet so they could think. He said they couldn’t even tell which plane was there because everybody was yelling.
Another worker, apparently angry, shouted to the crowd asking if they wanted to board their flight. ‘Yes’, said Eis. So then the worker asked everyone to be quiet, explaining that they would explain things only once because they were very frustrated.
Things only went downhill from there when Eis attempted to record the second worker, who then threatened to stop him from getting on the flight. Eis later told Inside Edition it was the most chaotic thing he’d ever seen at an airport, saying the second worker had come to help but quickly got angry.
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Spirit Airlines apologized for what had transpired, saying it was not how they treated their customers. The airline added that, pending the outcome of an investigation, the two employees in the video had been suspended.
The incident thus becomes indicative of increased friction between airline staff and passengers of late, leading to increased incidences of delayed or canceled flights. That means probably what airlines need to do is try harder to communicate with their passengers and sort out problems when something goes wrong at an airport.