Just two days after a mob of Trump supporters stormed into the US Capitol, leaving at least five dead and dozens more injured, many found themselves trying to fly back home— and it wasn’t pretty.
One group hopped on an American Airlines flight with the same energy from Washington, DC to Phoenix chanting “USA” and “fight for Trump. The pilot warned the passengers that he would “put the plane down in the middle of Kansas and dump people off’ if they didn’t change their behavior, as first reported in Business Insider.
“Wow. I’m on a plane full of patriots flying from DC to Phoenix, and we started chanting “USA,” and the Captain came on said told us he’d drop us off in Kansas if he had to if we didn’t obey their every single rule,” passenger Mindy Robinson said on Twitter.
Wow. I’m on a plane full of patriots flying from DC to Phoenix and we started chanting “USA” …and the Captain came on said told us he’d drop us off in Kansas if he had to if we didn’t obey their every single rule.
— Mindy Robinson 🇺🇸 (@iheartmindy) January 8, 2021
American Airlines is everything but American.@AmericanAir pic.twitter.com/duFt2W90cc
“At American, we take the safety of our customers seriously and we value the trust they place in our team to care for them throughout their journey,” American Airlines told Travel Noire in a statement. “Prior to departure from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), the pilot onboard flight 1242 made an announcement emphasizing the importance of following crew member instructions and complying with mandatory face-covering policies.”
The pilot’s actions come amid concerns from the aviation industry over their safety against people who participated in the attempted coup.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) International, which represents 50,000 flight attendants across 17 airlines, said the rioters should not be allowed on their returning flights.
Flight Attendant Unions Say Pro-Trump Rioters Should Be Banned From Flights
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), the union representing American Airlines flight crew, agreed, stating, “this behavior is unacceptable, and Flight Attendants should not have to deal with these egregious incidents.”
In a separate incident, one man was seen on video in Charlotte’s airport having a full-blown meltdown after supposedly being called a terrorist. It is being said that he and another group of passengers were kicked off of their flight after showing up on a no fly list, issued as a part of an investigation.
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“They called me a f***ing terrorist,” the man shouted while visibly upset.
A woman could be seen trying to get him to calm down, as she explained that they would go to another airline. The person who recorded the video also noted that most of the people were kicked off of the flight for not wearing masks, which is mandatory for nearly every airline.
It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds as the FBI and other agencies continue to conduct investigations.
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