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The video of a woman being deboarded from a Tampa-bound American Airlines plane because she refused to lower the volume of her phone and instead rained curse words at the crew went viral.
The incident took place in February and the person who posted the video originally on TikTok called the woman 'drunk'. "A drunk lady on an American Airlines flight from Miami to Tampa refused to use headphones and was loudly playing videos from her phone. The flight attendants politely asked her to use headphones before we even left the gate, and the lady immediately got angry, rude and belligerent. She was shouting and cursing at employees and other passengers.
It continued until law enforcement finally came and thankfully removed her.
The American Airlines employees handled it very well and were respectful the entire time. Just a wild situation. Never in my life did I think I’d witness this," the person wrote. In the video which recorded the encounter, the woman defended her action and said she only played a video for 30 seconds at 50% sound and stopped after the second warning -- all laced with swear words.
“I played a video for 30 f**king seconds at 50% sound, and that’s the f**king reason you’re kicking me off?" she said.
“Listen. Is this not a free-speech America or are we being a**holes to literally everybody?” she asked one cop as they arrived to lead the disruptive passenger away. “Can I not express my feelings?" she asked. “You can express your feelings over there,” one cop replied pointing to the front of the plane.Playing a video on the phone without using earphones is considered a nuisance and United Airlines has taken official steps to curb this. The airline has made it mandatory for all its passengers to wear headphones while listening to a device. The airline said it reserves the right to remove anyone who doesn't comply with the new rules and potentially ban them from flying on United in the future.
