Black Woman Forced Off Frontier Plane After Allegedly Refusing To Agree To Help In Case of Emergency

What was supposed to be a peaceful flight turned unruly after a Black woman was forced off a Frontier plane and arrested after allegedly refusing to save other lives while seated in an emergency aisle.

The unidentified woman was filmed arguing with flight attendants at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina in May 2024. As things escalated, everyone on board was deplaned as police officers boarded the aircraft. The video starts with the woman seated with two other passengers, going back and forth with a flight attendant, asking her, “What is the problem?” She then told the attendant she was “wasting her breath” as she walked away. 

She is then seen arguing with other crew members, including the pilot, after being asked to exit the plane. The woman refused to do so, citing the need to get to her four-year-old grandson in Texas. 

The woman was seen attempting to contact her lawyer as other passengers started to encourage the woman to deboard the plane with police. “Are you arresting me?” she exclaimed. “What crime did I commit?”

As passengers are seen heading back out to the boarding area, the woman was seen outside being led off the plane in handcuffs, heading to a police car. Passengers were upset about the situation as one was heard calling the woman a “dumb*ss” in the background. 

According to the Independent, the woman went against a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirement that passengers seated in an emergency exit row read instructions and confirm verbally that they will adhere to the physical duties of assisting others in case of an emergency. The woman did claim several times during the verbal exchanges that she said yes when the flight crew asked. 

TikTokker, Travel with Tia, is the person who caught the incident on camera. She made a follow-up video defending the woman, explaining that this was potentially the first time she had sat in the emergency exit row. “This may have been her first time in an exit row, so she did not understand or realize or want to understand that the flight attendant has to get a verbal yes from everyone when you are doing, when you are going through the drill,” Tia claimed. 

“And she had an attitude with giving the verbal yes because she thought shaking her head was sufficient and didn’t realize or didn’t want to realize why she had to give a verbal yes.”

Frontier Airlines has yet to release a statement regarding the incident.

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