Baltimore – Southwest is apologizing to a woman who was physically removed from a plane by police officers in the latest airline video to go viral.
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A Southwest Airlines spokesman said Wednesday that the woman said she had a life-threatening pet allergy but couldn’t show a medical certificate she needed to make the flight from Baltimore to Los Angeles. There were two dogs on the plane Tuesday.
Spokesman Chris Mainz said crew members told the woman that she could be barred from the flight if she couldn’t travel safely with animals on board, but she refused to leave the plane, and the airline called police.
The incident was captured on video by other passengers and was reminiscent of a dragging earlier this year on a United Express flight that sparked a public outcry.
“What are you doing?” the woman asked two police officers who had grabbed her on the Southwest plane, one from in front and the other from behind.
“I will walk off. Don’t touch me!” she yelled.
“All right, let’s walk. Let’s walk,” one of the officers answered.
Other passengers chimed in, one telling the woman to file a complaint, another urging her to show that she was walking off the plane. Police pushed and pulled her from the back of the plane to an exit near the front.
Mainz said Southwest was publicly apologizing to the woman and would contact her.
“We are disheartened by the way this situation unfolded and the customer’s removal by local law enforcement officers,” he said.
The airline declined to give the passenger’s name, but she can be heard on camera identifying herself as a professor.
In April, United was widely condemned after security officers in Chicago dragged a 69-year-old man off an overbooked United Express flight to make room for crew members flying to their next flight. United CEO Oscar Munoz was excoriated for initially blaming the passenger, who lost teeth and suffered a concussion. United reached a settlement with the passenger for undisclosed terms.
So then what recourse does an airline have? There is no takeoff bc woman refuses to leave on her own. You now have 150 to 200 furious passngers.
How do u resolve this situation ?
Wow, it is happening. War between these fake dog needy people and legit allergies!
This cop would have been very thrilled and happy to work in germany circa 1933-45!
So instead of removing the two kelevs, they manhandle this poor professor and treat her like trash. Better stay home than fly on these boxcars with wings.
Let us assume that Southwest had a legitimate reason to ask the Professor to leave the flight, since she stated that she had a very bad allergy to the dogs; also, let us assume that she was intransigent, as she stated that her Father was having surgery in LA, and she wanted to be buy his side. She was not aggressive to the cops, and did not attempt to assault them. However, I saw the tape. The cop in front clearly lost his cool, and manhandled her, the way he pulled her and shoved her. The cops could have easily handcuffed her and gently carried here off the plane. There was no excuse for that psycho cop in front, to have used the excessive amount of force, which he employed on that poor woman. Now, she will have to sue the cops for excessive force. I’m not sure if she has any recourse against Southwest, as she was not bumped as that Doctor was by United.