‘Selfish’: Viral Video Shows Officers Forcibly Drag Plus-Size Passenger By Arms and Pants Belt Off Plane After Cabin Crew Reportedly Denies His Request for Bigger Seat
Another flight, another passenger meltdown.
Video caught the moments a man had to be forcibly dragged down the aisle of a plane off an international flight after he demanded a bigger seat.
A Thai Air Lion flight departing Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 25 had to be delayed solely to address the disruption caused by a British tourist, according to multiple reports.
Cellphone footage showed the moments a plus-size passenger in a bright orange Garfield T-shirt with the words, “Sorry too busy doing nothing,” and green shorts was forcibly removed from his seat by flight attendants.
The passenger reportedly requested to be reassigned to an exit row seat for more legroom. When flight attendants denied his request, he threw a tantrum.
After he was removed from his seat, he opted to lie on the aisle floor in protest, then pulled out his cellphone and began recording the cabin crew members standing above him.
After a few moments, two officers are seen dragging him by his arms and belt off the plane after he refused to walk on his own.
“At first, I thought we couldn’t take off because the man had fallen ill,” said one man who recorded video footage, per People. “It turned out he just thought the economy seat was too crowded and insisted on moving to the emergency exit. The flight attendants had to call the police because he refused to cooperate.”
The incident delayed the flight by an hour.
Some passengers were heard calling the man “f–king selfish” and telling him to “get out of the plane.”
It’s unclear whether the passenger was arrested or released after being taken off the plane. Authorities have also not identified him.
In a similar incident, a New York woman had to be pulled off a Southwest Airlines flight in Kansas City, Missouri, but in this incident, she was charged with aggravated assault for spitting on and pulling the hair of a female passenger.
Cellphone footage caught the moments authorities strapped her to a gurney to remove her from the flight.