A Spirit Airlines gate agent was captured on video yelling at a disgruntled passenger to “shut up” after he became irate after waiting for hours to board a delayed flight.
The heated exchange at Hollywood Burbank Airport in California began when a passenger attempting to board a morning flight that had been delayed by more than eight hours demanded to know the reason for the delay. Inside Edition.
But Spirit Airlines employees were overwhelmed when another group of passengers arrived at the gate and joined the mayhem.
“Please be quiet because I want to think about what’s going on. I don’t even know which plane is here because everyone is shouting numbers,” one attendant in an orange shirt and reflective vest sternly told anxious passengers over the intercom.
“You guys won’t give me one minute. Please just give me one minute!”
The footage then cuts to a second officer, wearing a black shirt and reflective vest, with clenched fists and yelling at anxious passengers.
“I need your attention right now,” an exasperated attendant shouted over the intercom to the crowd. “Do you guys want to board this flight or not?”
“Yes, ma’am!” one passenger shouted back from the crowd of disgruntled passengers.
“Okay, so everybody shut up and I’m only going to say this once, and I’m only going to say it one more time because we’re super annoyed,” she announced to the passengers, in a heated exchange that was recorded by nearby passenger Kevin Ice.
As Ice angled his camera to capture the agent’s anger, the first Spirit Airlines gate agent told him, “You can let him off the plane.”
Ice, who was on a different flight to Las Vegas when the ludicrous remark was recorded, was shocked.
“Oh my god, that was the most chaotic thing that’s ever happened at an airport,” he told Inside Edition.
Ice claims that a second attendant who was heard telling the passenger to “shut up” initially tried to help the first attendant calm the passenger, but quickly lost his cool.
“We apologize to the customer as this experience does not reflect Spirit Airlines’ high standards for guest service,” Spirit Airlines said in a statement to Inside Edition.
The airline also said it had suspended two staff members following the abusive language towards customers.
“Hopefully these people will learn a lesson,” Ice said.
This isn’t the first time there has been confusion at a Spirit Airlines gate.
In May, an altercation at a Spirit Airlines ticket counter at Baltimore-Washington International Airport escalated into a violent brawl involving five men, one of whom suffered minor injuries.
