Brawls break out in Florida over cancelled Spirit flights (VIDEOS)
A bizarre brawl broke out at a Florida airport resulting in a massive response from the sheriff’s department Monday after Spirit Airlines cancelled 11 flights. Three people were reportedly arrested.
Irate passengers confronted Spirit employees at the ticket line in Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International after they were told their flights had been cut.
@nbc@NBCNews Riot breaks out at #FLL over @SpiritAirlines#cancelled flights. People are angry, some arrested. #worstcustomerservicepic.twitter.com/y1VaH7Lb9w
— Jose L. Rodriguez (@asg749d) May 9, 2017
Some passengers arrived from the airplane on which they had been waiting and confronted airport staff. As the situation became heated, members of the Broward Sheriff's Office stepped in.
Video footage shared on social media shows chaos between passengers and the police. One person is seen being roughly brought to the ground by deputies. Another is dragged away by law enforcement. A number of passengers were handcuffed.
Chaos at @FLLFlyer! 9 @SpiritAirlines flights cancelled. Unruly passengers turn on ticket agents & each other https://t.co/laSiMUd4ba@CBS12pic.twitter.com/RsCTUap7pv
— Suzanne Boyd (@SuzanneBoyd) May 9, 2017
Just witnessed police brutality at Fort Lauderdale airport @SpiritAirlines trying to get back to NYC...i'm tired its 2017 pic.twitter.com/3UHGUqCuwm
— Brionka Halbert (@brionkahalbert) May 9, 2017
“There were several people there that were upset," Broward Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Gina Carter told ABC News. "We were called in to just make sure that things were kept from getting very unruly.”
Carter wouldn’t say if anyone was arrested, but CBS reported three people were arrested and one person was detained at the airport.
As many as 300 Spirit flights have been cancelled over the last week. Spirit is blaming its own pilots and is suing them in court. The lawsuit, filed Monday, blames the pilot’s union, Airline Pilots Association, International (ALPA), for the pilot unavailability.
.@SpiritAirlines files suit against its pilots union & pilots claiming they created an 'unlawful slowdown' causing cancellations @boston25pic.twitter.com/c07lYlcCP9
— Daniel Miller (@Daniel_Miller8) May 9, 2017
Spirit says the pilots are turning down last minute assignments and that union members are intimidating other pilots to follow suit. The pilot union, which anticipated the legal action before Friday, told members to work.
According to the lawsuit, the airline cancelled 81 flights on Sunday.
"These pilots have put their quest for a new contract ahead of getting customers to their destinations and the safety of their fellow Spirit Team Members," said Spirit Airlines spokesman Paul Berry.
However, an APLA spokesperson told CNN: "Rather, ALPA and the Spirit pilots are continuing to do everything possible to help restore the company's operations, which have experienced significant problems over the past several days.”
CHAOS AT THE COUNTER! Cancelled Spirit Airlines flights cause long lines and a flared tempers at Fort Lauderdale's Airport. pic.twitter.com/gp3OxErJEv
— RobSpickerWINK (@RobSpickerWINK) May 9, 2017