This might be the most unusual resolution to an incident of passenger rage ever recorded.
The bizarre moment passengers held a passenger “vote” to eject an unruly traveller was captured on a Frontier Airlines flight, from New Jersey to Atlanta Georgia.
After an argument on a seat allocation erupted into a heated argument, passenger Lanaisli Li began recording the incident. She could not have expected where it would go.
The clip shared to TikTok shows a pile-on after a woman’s partner was deplaned for arguing with cabin crew.
The woman accused the passenger of “antagonising” the family the whole flight, saying “she needs to get off this plane, if it’s anyone!”
It’s a heightened moment of drama.
Another traveller turns round to say there’s an “hysterical energy”, complaining it’s too hot in the cabin.
“There are kids on this plane,” shout others, hoping for a quick resolution. Others ask where the airport police were, saying they just want to get home.
Then something even stranger happens, a passenger snaps: “stop telling me to shut up.” The man in a red pullover then delivers a diatribe on the state of travel and culture in the US.
“This is literally American culture concocted into one airplane. If everyone was literally about everybody as a collective whole everybody would work together but everybody is against everybody. It’s American culture that is the problem!”
The apparently off-the-cuff speech has an odd effect on the cabin.
“The last thing we need is a white man preaching,” says one passenger. “Lesson of the day.”
But the man continues, asking a flight attendant if she was going to do anything about the antagonistic passenger.
“We’ve got 40-30 people who would like her removed from the flight,” he says.
“If you want her removed from the flight, raise your hand. I’m not even kidding. I’m trying to prove a point.”
Remarkably a show of hands appear above the plane seats, motioning to remove the passenger.
The woman complies and goes to pick up her luggage from the overhead bin, saying “I don’t know what I did.”
A man in high vis, apparently an airport ground agent boards the plane and escorts her off the plane. She goes to confront the man who tabled the impromptu vote, but is stopped.
“At 30,000ft you can’t be arguing,” says the airport worker.
All three parts of the bizarre video that looked part lifted from an Arthur Miller play have had over 15 million views.
The strange monologue about America and air travel went viral.
“Preachy or not, he was right,” said one comment on the TikTok video.
Many praised the actions of “red shirt man”, leading the vote. Others wondered who he was to make the confrontation about him, when “mind their own business”.
One said it was “ironic as F” that the passenger took the opportunity to tell everybody to “shut up” before delivering a speech on the soul of America.