Flight forced to deboard after passenger ignores exit row instructions

An entire Frontier Airlines flight was forced to deboard after a passenger refused to comply with exit row instructions.

The incident took place at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina and was filmed by TikToker Travel With Tia.

In the video, the woman involved can be seen seated by the exit row but told flight staff she was “not going to save anybody” in case of an emergency.

In a storytime posted by Tia, she explained the woman instead told a flight attendant that “If something happens, I’m going to save myself first.”

As the flight crew needed to receive a verbal agreement that those in the exit row would comply, the passenger’s “attitude” quickly became a problem for those onboard.

“She thought shaking her head was sufficient and didn’t realize — or didn’t want to realize — why she had to give a verbal ‘yes’,” Tia said.

Despite attempts to “calm her down” and “explain the process,” the woman maintained an “attitude” and ultimately called a flight attendant “outside of her name repeatedly”, resulting in management being called to escort her off the flight.

After refusing multiple requests to get off the plane (including one from the pilot), police were called to step in. However, this meant the entire plane had to first deboard.

The situation quickly went viral as Tia’s original video was shared online to X (formerly Twitter), where it has amassed over 9.5 million views so far.

Viewers theorized the woman’s initial statement about refusing to help during an emergency had been a “joke” that “backfired.”

Nonetheless, one person pointed out that the woman’s refusal could have led to dangerous consequences; “Passengers should honestly be glad she got removed because what if something did happen and she refused to help others? Then lives would be put in danger because of her selfish actions.”

“She needs to understand that her role in that seat is nothing to be played about,” another agreed.

This isn’t the first time a passenger has been kicked off a plane, with one person having previously been removed for farting and another who threw a “tantrum” after their flight was delayed.