WATCH: Spirit Airlines passenger Willie French recounts the moments on board his flight when a group of African Americans were asked to leave the plane before takeoff. He said that when the passenger and his wife got to their seats, another passenger was sitting in the man’s seat, so he and his wife were moved. At least 5 other passengers spoke up in disgust of how the flight attendant was treating the 2 passengers, and airport police were called to assist. Following this, police took the three couples out of the plane. The airline said the group became “unruly” over an apparent seating mix-up. The incident started when there was a few confusion over a seat, which the man and another passenger claimed was double booked. They deplaned and were rebooked on another flight set to take off on Tuesday.
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Police initially escorted one couple off Flight 868 just after 7 p.m., accusing a man of being disruptive when he refused to give up his seat, according to the New York Daily News.
Five other people also began arguing during the incident and were escorted off the plane. Other passengers told Eyewitness News that the situation was handled appropriately and the other five African-American passengers who left the plane only left because they were all part of the same party.
Tyler Grosso, a traveler who captured the incident on video, recalled the incident. “After the guy said that, [the attendant] said ‘Well sir, you need to get off this flight'”.
“I’m really humiliated just for the simple fact that you hear about this type of stuff happening in America, discrimination issues and stuff like that, but to actually experience it first-hand”, Alexandria Wright, one of the six passengers in the center of the controversy, told the channel. The passengers said they were removed from the plane, and not given a proper explanation as to why.
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“It was just a business dispute”, he said.
