(NEXSTAR) – A disruptive Delta passenger was recently escorted to the back of the plane after making an impromptu in-flight announcement — with what appeared to be her own microphone and amplifier.
The bizarre incident, which unfolded on a flight to New York City, was caught on camera and uploaded to TikTok over the weekend.
In the footage, the offending passenger can be standing in the aisle of the plane, attempting to lecture her fellow fliers on “the reason the pandemic started” while members of the flight crew try to get her back to her seat.
“This is mine; you can’t take it,” she tells the flight crew of her microphone, which she strapped over her face mask. “I tried borrowing yours, but you don’t want to let me use it.”
The woman is then told by the flight attendants that they may use restraints if she doesn’t behave, prompting her to make a cringe-worthy, narcissistic response.
“I don’t need to be taken anywhere. I don’t need to be cuffed. I’m completely harmless,” she says into her microphone. “Although, I think [the passengers] are enjoying this, because like I said, I’m not terrible to look at.”
It’s unclear from the video if the unruly passenger ever gets her point across, despite her repeated attempts to blame the pandemic on “the internet” and humans losing “a little bit of faith.”
“The reason the pandemic started, is because nobody here has any more faith, because you’re all stuck to your stupid devices,” she rants. “And you don’t even know what reality is anymore, and you depend on stupid nonsense to determine your reality.”
The video shows Delta’s flight attendants eventually escorting the woman to the back of the plane, after allowing her to retrieve her belongings and her dog from her row.
“My dog has better sense than any of you,” the woman says as she’s being ushered down the aisle. “In fact, my dog could be a better god for you people. My dog is my god.”
The video, uploaded by songwriter and recording artist Jawny, has been viewed over 2 million times on TIkTok.
“Someone come get her,” he joked in the caption.
A representative for Delta Air Lines has since issued a statement concerning the disruption, but did not disclose whether the woman was detanined by police upon landing, or placed on the carrier’s no-fly list.
“The safety of our customers and employees are always our top priority,” reads a statement shared with Nexstar. “We are aware of the video and appreciate the swift thinking of our flight crew who actioned their extensive training to safely deescalate the situation. The flight continued to JFK and landed on-time without incident.”
Flight crews working amid the pandemic, meanwhile, have previously reported an uptick in unruly behavior since January. In September, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had even stated that reports of unruly passengers were coming in at twice the rate they were reported at the end of 2020.
Since January 2021, the FAA has confirmed at least reports of at least 4,837 such incidents of bad behavior, the majority of which involve passengers refusing to comply with mask mandates.
The FAA has also proposed well over $1,00,000 in civil penalties (collectively) against some of those disruptive passengers since enacting a zero-tolerance policy aimed at curbing bad behavior on commercial flights. Passengers can also face jail time for more egregious behavior.
