A Southwest Airlines flight traveling from Chicago to Houston had to be briefly delayed due to an incident involving an unruly passenger.
The unnamed woman was asked to lift her table before take-off, which provoked a tirade from her that included a racial slur.
The incident was caught on video and has since spread around the Internet, leading to many critical comments from viewers on social media.
Other passengers on the plane were not impressed with her behavior as there was a wave of cheering as she was escorted off.
The woman has not stepped forward to identify herself or present her part of the story, and it is not known at this point if she is going to face any further consequences for her actions other than being removed from the flight.
Some commenters on the situation have pointed out that she could potentially face charges, although it is not clear if that is true or whether the airline is planning to pursue the case to such an extent in the first place.
Southwest Airlines itself reacted to the incident and said that they believed their employees acted as professionally as they could given the situation, and handled everything with appropriate “grace and class.”
The statement from the company read: “The customer became unruly and verbally abusive toward our flight attendants, and the decision was made to return to the gate to deplane the Customer, where she was met by local law enforcement officers.”
The representative for the airline reiterated that the company does not condone such behavior and it would readily deal with customers acting in a similar manner in the future.
The flight went on without any further incidents once the problematic passenger was removed, although the situation did cause an hour-long delay.
This is not the first time that Southwest is linked to a racist incident.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd6wkE4M1gY
