Spirit Airlines agents traded blows with unruly passengers as they were boarding a flight in a wild video.
The vicious fight erupted at Philadelphia International Airport Monday night when a mom, 39, and her 17-year-old daughter were hit with extra fees because their carry-on luggage was too large.
The shocking footage begins with the two travelers grabbing and clawing at gate agents in the entrance to the jetway as the Fort Lauderdale-bound flight prepares to board.
The younger woman tugs violently on a Spirit staffer’s dreadlocks while an airport worker in a high vis jacket slaps her over the back of the head and shouts ‘get off, get off.’
When the teen finally lets go, the furious agent aims several punches at her face – even while the girl is being restrained.
Several feet away her mom has lost her shirt and shoes in the scrap but she fights on in just her bra as a stunned bystander yells: ‘Where the f*** is security’.
At one stage a little boy, believed to be part of the same family, starts hitting a Spirit employee before running away in tears and sinking to his knees.
Just as the brawl appears to fizzle the mom makes a dash towards the counter and grabs a keyboard but is dragged away and punched in the head from behind by one of the Spirit agents.
Her wig is torn off before a uniformed official, either a cop or a security guard, finally shows up and the fighting ends, some two and a half minutes into the video.
A 24-year-old woman was left nursing a cut to her eye but nobody was seriously hurt, the Philly Police Department said in a statement.
Officers spoke to everyone involved but have not made any arrests over the 7:30pm dust-up at E Terminal.
That came as a surprise to a witness to the fighting who told DailyMail.com he was astonished to see such scenes unfold at a busy international airport.
‘I was shocked at how violent it was and how long it went on for,’ said the fellow passenger, who requested anonymity.
‘I don’t know exactly who started it, but there was a lot of yelling and I turned around to see two Spirit employees fighting a mother and daughter.
‘Someone was bleeding. At one stage a child got involved. Regardless of what he did, he’s just a kid – he looked distraught.
‘If this is the way Spirit Airlines operates, it’s really scary.’
The flight was delayed roughly an hour but continued to Florida without further incident.
Staff at ultra-low-cost carrier Spirit – company motto ‘We SOAR by serving each other and our Guests, one journey at a time’ – have been involved in a series of ugly confrontations in recent years, certainly some of which weren’t their fault.
Last August a male agent was caught on video at Dallas Fort Worth airport tackling and punching a young woman who had racially abused and slapped him.
And in November 2021 two flight attendants had to restrain and zip tie a drunk passenger who stormed to the front of a plane mid-flight with her luggage and declared: ‘I’m getting off.’
A 2020 flight from Newark to San Juan ended with a mass brawl and a woman being tasered for refusing to wear a mask and passengers trading racist and homophobic insults.
A spokesman for the Philadelphia Police department described the latest tussle as an allegation of ‘simple assault.’
‘On Monday, January 30th, 2023, at approximately 7:29 P.M. police received information that several passengers were pulling apart a 24-year-old female complainant and a 17-year-old female along with her 39-year-old mother during an argument over additional baggage fees,’ a statement said.
‘At this time, the 17 year old female attempted to access Jetway and was halted by the 24-year-old complainant when she was punched/hair pulled by the 17-year-old female being assisted by her 39-year-old mother.
‘The 24-year-old female sustained a minor eyelid laceration. All participants were advised by police in reference to private criminal complaint documentation.’
Spirit Airlines did not respond to a request for comment.
Spirit Airlines Employees throw hands with Mother and Daughter after trying to charge them double baggage fees at the gate for their oversized carry-on bags… pic.twitter.com/MgPHWxQppn
— Fight Haven (@FightHaven) February 6, 2023