Spirit Airlines Flight Attendant Goes On Shocking Rant

Usually it’s airline passengers acting out of line when it comes to mask compliance on planes, but this time it’s the other way around. There’s a fine line between trying to get passengers to do the right thing, and threatening to jail them, fine them $250,000, and put them on a global do-not-fly list, all while falsely claiming to be a “government official.”

Spirit flight attendant’s uncalled for pre-flight PA

Video has gone viral of a Spirit Airlines flight attendant making a pre-flight announcement that contains more false information than a… well, we won’t go there.

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You can watch the video below, but here’s a transcript of what was said:

“Once the door is closed, if we have to ask you more than once to cover your nose, mouth, put your mask on, we’re not going to be rude, we’re not going to be nasty. We are going to simply take your seat number and your name, and when we get where we are going you will either be arrested, fined, but you will also be placed on the no-fly list, meaning that you’ll not be able to fly any airline for the rest of your life.

So please, again, I’m saying this because there is usually always that one person and I really don’t want to have to do the extra paperwork, and do more than I’m intended to for my job.

So if you do not agree or want to, you know, do what needs to be done, you are more than welcome to exit at this time. We have about nine more minutes left, but I want to give everyone a fair opportunity.

Also, I’m not really sure what’s going on with all these videos going viral of passengers attacking each other and/or flight attendants. Let me remind you, we are government officials, this is government property. If you choose to act out of content or character on this aircraft, you will be arrested and face 20 years imprisonment and you will also receive a $250,000 fine.

If a weapon is used, you will face life in prison. So before anybody gets creative, want to feel froggy, want to be bad, want to be a superhero, let me let you know what’s going on.

With that being said, if you didn’t like what I had to say, my name is Marrio, that’s with two ‘r’s, don’t forget to dot the ‘i,’ I’m the lead flight attendant on today’s flight, and I’m accompanied with a Fort Lauderdale and Dallas based cabin crew who are here for your safety first and your comfort second. If there is anything that you need on your flight today to make it more enjoyable, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Welcome aboard.”

Here’s the video, should you want to watch it (unfortunately the person who filmed this was someone who believes that “this tyranny will become the norm under Biden if we don’t stand behind President Trump” — let’s not even go there, please):

I’ve never seen anything like this before

I’ve been following the airline industry very closely for over 15 years, and I’ve seen my fair share of videos of flight attendants on power trips. However, I’ve never seen anything quite like this before:

• No, you can’t put someone on a no-fly list on all airlines forever (the worst any airline has done over mask compliance is put people on that specific carrier’s no-fly list for as long as the mask mandate is in place)
• No, flight attendants are not government officials
• No, Spirit Airlines planes aren’t government property (I mean, I guess airlines did get a bailout, so perhaps the government should really partly own these planes, but I don’t think that’s what the flight attendant was going for)
• No, you (probably) won’t receive 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for “acting out of character” on a plane
• Also, how the hell did we go from talking about face masks to talking about using weapons on planes?!

Like I said, flight attendants have tough jobs, and I get the challenges they face. But this is so beyond reasonable. And the most bizarre part is that the flight attendant seems to think he’s totally in the right and that this is okay:

• He mentions he’s the lead flight attendant, which makes me wonder how often he has made this announcement before
• He even proactively gives out his name in case anyone wants to complain
• What kind of customer service is this, welcoming passengers by warning them what will happen if they choose to use a weapon on the plane?
• Not only that, but it’s clearly ineffective; you can hear people laughing at this guy’s threats because they’re so outlandish, which kind of eliminates any benefit of using scare tactics

Hopefully Spirit Airlines retrains this flight attendant, and going forward perhaps he shouldn’t be put in charge of making pre-flight “welcome” announcements…

Spirit Airlines has issued the following statement regarding this incident:

“The message in this video is not Spirit’s approved message for welcoming our Guests onboard our planes and is not authorized. We appreciate the Guest who brought it to our attention, and we’re addressing the issue to make sure that this does not occur again in the future.”

Bottom line

I recognize how challenging the job of a flight attendant can be, especially nowadays. However, there’s a difference between trying to get passengers to comply with regulations, and making up lies, like that passengers could be fined $250,000, jailed, or never be able to get on an airplane of any airline ever again.

This crosses the line by a long shot…