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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Travel
Helen Wilson-Beevers

SkyWest flight attendants get into fight, delaying passengers for over an hour

TikTok/ashleyebrewer

A fight between a pair of flight attendants caused a delay of over an hour on a recent SkyWest flight.

The incident happened on a flight from Los Angeles to Houston, Texas on 12 March.

ESPN anchor and onboard passenger, Ashley Brewer, shared video footage of the quarrel in since-deleted Twitter and TikTok posts.

In the original TikTok video posted by Ms Brewer, she explains: “My flight attendants got in a fight and are refusing to work together”.

According to Brewer, the disagreement happened after the woman beside her in first class asked to swap seats with a person in economy to be with her husband.

While the male flight attendant was happy to let the passenger move, his female colleague disagreed.

“She had a problem with it, for some reason,” Ms Brewer says, adding the pair then began “bickering” about airline rules and regulations.

Ms Brewer claims that the male crew member then began shouting at his colleague, behaviour she described as “really out of line.”

According to the anchor’s account, the female crew member then refused to work on the flight with her colleague.

As a result of the debacle, gate crew were called in an effort to mediate, resulting in both flight attendants being replaced by new crew members over an hour after the alleged altercation began.

“After nearly two hours we got a new crew and took off,” she finishes. “It was such an ordeal. I’m so glad it’s over.”

In a follow-up TikTok, Ms Brewer thanks the flight attendants who came onto the aircraft to replace those involved in the incident.

One of the replacement flight attendants found the post and commented: “I was the replacement flight attendant sent for this flight. Thank you so much for being so kind and understanding about the chaotic situation.”

“We found the flight attendants that came and saved the day,” Ms Brewer says.

“Please use the comments to show them how wonderful they are,’ she adds.

Users were quick to comment underneath, with some people noticing the original post had been removed and asking: “Please can we get the tea ladies!?”.

“You’re so sweet! Thank you so much for acknowledging us flight attendants,” someone else wrote.

“I’m a flight attendant with this company, and I promise you there’s a lot more good ones than bad!!”, another person added.

In a statement shared online, a spokesperson for SkyWest said: “SkyWest is aware of reports regarding a flight attendant issue that caused flight 4860, operating as American Eagle from Los Angeles to Houston, to be delayed on Saturday.

“We regret the delay this caused for our passengers and apologise for any inconvenience.

“We hold all our employees to the highest standards of professionalism and are conducting an internal investigation related to this flight.”

The Independent has contacted SkyWest for comment.

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