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Lowenna Waters
Oct 02, 2018
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ABC13 Houston / YouTube
A female passenger has been thrown off a Southwest Airlines flight for referring to a flight attendant as a 'n*****' in a racist and verbally abusive rant.
The altercation occurred on a Saturday morning flight from Houston to Chicago when the passenger became angry and 'unruly' after the flight attendant asked her to put up her tray table and prepare for takeoff, reports USA Today.
A witness and fellow passenger on the flight filmed the shocking tirade, in which the woman, who is wearing a back brace and using a cane, can be heard using the racial slur, as well as other expletives, as she is escorted off of the plane.
Witnesses also report that fellow passengers cheered when the unidentified woman was escorted off of the flight to the plane doors, despite the fact the flight was delayed by over an hour.
The passenger has not yet been identified, and has also not been formally charged, reports the Daily Mail.
Southwest Airlines released the following statement to Fox News, confirming the incident:
On Flight #5593 with scheduled service from Chicago Midway to Houston Hobby on Saturday morning, our reports indicate that a Customer refused to comply with our Flight Crew's instructions after boarding and before the flight departed Chicago.
The customer became unruly and verbally abusive toward our flight attendants, and the decision was made to return to the gate to deplane the Customer, where she was met by local law enforcement officers.
Our employees handled the situation professionally with grace and class, and we do not condone or tolerate such profane and unruly behavior on board our aircraft.
Once the customer deplaned the aircraft, the flight resumed to Houston Hobby, arriving about an hour later than originally scheduled.
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