You can’t help but feel bad for airline representatives when they have to deal with customers like this…
In this post:
Allegiant’s $5 boarding pass fee leads to arrest
Police body camera footage has been posted online of an incident that happened on August 3, 2025, at the Allegiant Air check-in desk at Punta Gorda Airport (PGD). Allegiant is an ultra low cost carrier, and the airline charges service fees for all kinds of things.
Among those things, there’s a $5 fee to print a boarding pass at the airport, for those who choose not to use the app or print their boarding pass at home. This is disclosed on the carrier’s optional services & fees page.
Regardless of how you feel about that fee, it’s probably not worth getting arrested over $5… which brings us to this incident. Police were called to the Allegiant check-in desk, over a reported disturbance. The issue? A man was really, really angry that he was being asked to pay $5 to print a boarding pass.
He claimed he “already bought a ticket,” and therefore didn’t have to pay that $5 fee for the boarding pass. He also claimed that last year he didn’t have to pay a fee to print a boarding pass at the airport. When this was explained to him, he said “I will sue this company.”
He police officer acted really respectfully, but this guy kept trying to jump in and interrupt him. But the man insisted he wanted to record the Allegiant representatives telling him he had to pay the $5 fee, because he was seemingly convinced he was being scammed.
The police officer explained that his body camera was on, but the man said that often goes missing. So it then got super cringe, as the man demanded that “I want to hear you say that you’re denying me on the aircraft because I won’t spend $5 for something I already paid for, and I won’t download something on my phone.”
He then proceeded to throw $5 in cash at the Allegiant representative, but they explained that they can only accept credit or debit cards, as is common practice in the airline industry, to which he responded, “so now you’re denying me because I don’t have a credit card,” and he claimed the agent was lying (in fairness, the agent said they haven’t accepted credit cards since 9/11, which isn’t quite accurate, but it’s besides the point).
When the cop refused to take his side and somehow compel Allegiant to let him fly, he told the cop “you’re an idiot, you’re stupid and you’re ignorant.” The cop warned he was going to be trespassed if he didn’t move, and he responded “you don’t know what you’re talking about, and they’re lying,” and then he claimed they’re refusing him service, and that this is a crime.
He was then told he was going to get a trespass warning, and was asked to sit on a bench. However, he refused and got really aggressive, at which point he was arrested.
You can watch the whole incident for yourself below.
The level of ignorance here is astounding
I’m not sure what exactly caused this guy’s issues, and if he’s just a jerk who thinks he’s never wrong, or if there’s something more serious wrong with him.
Regardless, no one has the right to treat customer-facing employees this way, especially when they’re just doing their job. They were literally enforcing the company’s policy, and he treated them as if they were personally trying to offend and scam him.
Then he did the same thing with the cops. Like, dude, once you’re on the verge of being trespassed, just cooperate with the cops, and don’t make the situation worse for yourself. But this guy’s pride got in the way.
Honestly, this guy would be a risk once he gets on the flight as well. Imagine if a flight attendant told him he needed to put on his seatbelt or store his carry-on bag. I’m sure they’d also get a “you don’t know what you’re talking about” response, and he’d accuse them of lying and would threaten to sue them.
Bottom line
An Allegiant Air customer got arrested after putting up a massive fight over the carrier’s $5 boarding pass fee. He was convinced the employees were trying to scam him, or something, and became aggressive. The police had to be called, he was warned that he’d be trespassed, and he was still combative, so he ended up being arrested.
Folks, please don’t act this way at airports…
Ultimately it's his own fault for not reading the terms he agreed to, and he should take the L with grace to avoid looking like a fool
But I can certainly understand his frustration
He said he's taking prescription medication and he was visibly shaking. Many meds have side effects that can trigger uncontrolled anger for simple reasons.
This guy has issues but MY GOODNESS is this a bad policy. Charging people 5$ to print a boarding pass is NUTS!!! That is a policy designed to cause these issues in todays world. People are already on edge when traveling and this is just a way to trigger people. That does not excuse this guy raising his voice and being rude to the employees.
He got what he deserved, but part of me feels bad. He was shaking his arm several times. I don't think he is well.
Another slow news day for Ben
" throw $5 in cash at the Allegiant representative"? Exaggeration. He wasn't allowed to get near the service desk, so what could he do?
By the way, the police officer is a professional jerk. His voice may be low, but he kept cutting off this man.
Not to split hairs - goodness knows he didn't - but the policy does say "select *domestic* airports"... and to the best of my awareness, Punta Cana is not domestic.
@ Jim -- This was Punta Gorda in Florida, not Punta Cana. :-)
Ah, well, Florida is domestic (for now), though admittedly I've never heard of Punta Gorda... although of course ULCCs are famous for flying into tertiary cities.
Once he throws $5 cash at the check in agent and is told “I can’t take your cash,” maybe that should be a sign he is not getting scammed, but is just booked in on a steerage class airline. Now, if this was a GATE agent demanding cash on Frontier because his carry on was “too big,” then he might be on to something.
This guy might actually have some success starting a class action lawsuit. Charging extra for a printed ticket could be seen as an issue. If an elderly person doesn't have a cell phone, know how to work one or has an outdated flip phone, that could force them to pay $5. The way this guy acted wasn't acceptable but there is some merit on changing this policy, especially as ULCC's will soon be slowly disappearing.
There seems to be a real anger problem with lots of Americans. Drugs/Alcohol/Politics/Financial/Marital/Mental Health/Stress/Entitlement - you name the cause. A sad statement and hopefully something can be done.
BTW I am an American and see it all the time. I travel internationally on a monthly basis, and rarely if ever see it in other countries on the scale that I see it in the US.
No, he just seems like an a-hole.
lol, I left that one out.
Quite right Jeff, we might think it but a gentleman would never put such a profanity in writing. I suppose that the same will be said of me now that I have criticised Aaron …. :-)
I think there are two major issues a lot of people can't come to terms with in this country. COVID was not a hoax. Trump is a buffoon.
People who have been proven wrong about COVID and Trump have been deeply damaged.
Some seem to lash out when anyone doesn't agree with how they feel. Regardless of the facts.
I think a lot of us have seen it in our own families. It's very sad.