A Spirit Airlines employee who became enraged at a passenger at a California airport in July has revealed what caused her and her boss to lose their cool, after they were both fired over the incident.
“Every day I regret that I did it,” said Jane Barrow, a former customer service representative for Spirit Airlines. Inside Edition Tuesday.
Barrow went viral in July after she was caught on video yelling at a passenger to “shut up” at Hollywood Burbank Airport, saying the heated exchange left her and her Spirit Airlines coworkers “super annoyed.”
Spirit Airlines also fired his boss, Razia Singh, over the incident after he was seen to be angry with passengers, but Singh said he was trying to do his job as best he could under the circumstances.
“I was trying to recover,” Singh told the outlet. “I was trying to explain to the crowd, 'I'm doing everything I can, so please hold on a moment'.”
Barrow said technical issues the airline was having meant passengers were unable to check in, creating tense situations.
“The computers were down so we couldn't check people in, we couldn't transport their baggage, we couldn't assign seats,” Barrow said. “And on top of that, we were overbooked.”
Former Spirit Airlines employees said flights for about 300 passengers were delayed, only adding to tensions at the gate as angry travelers, some of whom had already been stuck in the terminal for eight hours, were delayed.
Barrow then tried to defuse the situation by speaking to anxious passengers who had crowded around the gate desk demanding answers, but the “pressure” made him lose his cool.
“I think that was just everything, there was just pressure and nobody was listening,” Burrow told the outlet.
Barrow said she regrets her reaction and wishes she had handled the situation differently, but understands why Spirit Airlines fired her for “excessive” yelling.
The former airline employee said he got a new job with a crowd-control company but felt Singh was unfairly fired by the company.
The video does not show Singh yelling at customers during the heated exchange in July.
She appeared shaken by the situation and only tried to be louder when addressing the crowd.
“I understand if you would let me go, [Singh] “She wasn't projecting that loudly,” said Barrow, who was sitting next to Singh as she began wiping away tears over being fired by Spirit Airlines.
“She was trying to make light of a crazy situation that was already happening.”
It is unclear whether Singh has found a new job since being fired.
Singh said she knows Barrow's handling of the situation was “wrong,” but that moment didn't fully show what a caring person she truly is.
“She still wished me luck,” a teary-eyed Singh told the outlet.
“I can't be mad at her because that's the type of person she is.”
