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Home / Travel

Spirit Airlines employee filmed screaming at passengers

Sarah Pollok
By Sarah Pollok
Multimedia Journalist·nzme·
22 Jul, 2024 02:24 AM3 mins to read

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Two employees have been allegedly suspended from Spirit Airlines following the incident, captured on social media. Photo / 123rf

Two employees have been allegedly suspended from Spirit Airlines following the incident, captured on social media. Photo / 123rf

A viral video showing two Spirit Airlines employees yelling at a crowd of passengers has resulted in their suspension.

In the clip, filmed by a passenger named Kevin Eis, a female gate agent in a high-vis vest is seen yelling as passengers waiting at the gate at Hollywood Burbank Airport in Los Angeles, Inside Edition reported.

“Can I have everybody’s attention right now,” the woman calls out, her hands balled into fists at her side before pointing at passengers as she asks if they want to get on the flight.

“Everyone’s gonna shut up and we’re gonna say this once and we’re only gonna say it again because we’re frustrated as hell,” she yells.

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Issues reportedly began when an arriving flight was delayed several hours creating a large crowd of delayed passengers impatient to board.

The employee appeared overwhelmed by passengers asking questions as the video, which has more than 2 million views, pans around to reveal dozens of people standing around.

Some seem to laugh and cheer in response to the frazzled employee.

In a second video, which accumulated more than 5 million views, a second employee asks the crowd to “help us to help you” before explaining the crew needed time to organise things.

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“Please, be quiet so I can think of what’s going on. I don’t even know what aircraft’s here because everybody’s screaming numbers,” she says.

“I don’t know what I have. I’m gonna be honest. I don’t know what aircraft’s sitting out there. I don’t know what’s going on,” she adds before begging the ground to give her a minute.

One passenger calls out encouragement, telling the woman: “You go girl, you take a minute”.

It was Eis’ first time flying with Spirit Airlines and he said he’d chosen the airline “out of novelty because it was 45 minute flight to Vegas and it was only $10 and we figured what could go wrong?”

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Eis said the flight itself “wasn’t terrible” but the boarding was “pretty rough”.

As for whether he’d fly Spirit Airlines again, Eis said: “Hell yeah! I love the unexpected chaos and the adventure as long as I don’t have to be anywhere immediately, then I would go with them again”.

One person commented on the video and claimed they had a similar experience with the same employees.

“I flew out of Burbank (to Vegas) last Monday, and these two ladies were yelling at us, too. Same gate, different day, same treatment,” they alleged.

Two employees have been suspended following the incident.

In a statement, the airline apologised to guests and said the behaviour did not reflect their “high standards for guest service”.

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This isn’t the first time the airline’s gate staff have gotten spirited.

In April, a video captured a Spirit Airlines worker swearing at a passenger.

In the clip, posted on TikTok on April 9, the employee is shown yelling at a woman waiting in line at the check-in desk at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

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