Spirit Airlines agents exchanged punches with unruly passengers as they boarded a flight in wild video obtained exclusively by .
The vicious fight erupted Monday night at Philadelphia International Airport when a 39-year-old mother and her 17-year-old daughter were hit with extra charges because their carry-on luggage was oversized.
The shocking footage begins with the two travelers at the entrance of the passenger boarding bridge, grabbing and grabbing onto Fort Lauderdale flights as the flight to Fort Lauderdale prepares to board.
The younger woman violently tugs at a Spirit employee’s dreadlocks while an airport worker in a high-vis jacket smacks her on the back of the head and yells, “Get out, get out.”
Shocking video obtained by shows a 39-year-old mother and 17-year-old daughter fighting with Spirit airline agents after they were hit with baggage fees at the Philadelphia airport gate on Monday
The footage begins with the two travelers grabbing and scratching the gate agents at the entrance to the passenger boarding bridge as the flight to Fort Lauderdale prepares to board
A young boy, believed to be part of the same family, eventually begins hitting a Spirit employee before running away in tears
When the teenager finally lets go, the enraged agent aims several punches at her face – even while holding the girl down.
A few yards away, her mother has lost her shirt and shoes in the junk, but she fights on, only in her bra, as a stunned onlooker yells, “Where the heck is safety”.
At one point, a young boy believed to be from the same family begins beating an employee of Spirit before running away in tears and falling to his knees.
Just as the brawl seems to be fizzled out, the mother rushes to the counter and grabs a keyboard, but is dragged away by one of the Spirit agents and hit on the head from behind.
Her wig is torn off before a uniformed officer, either a police officer or a security guard, finally shows up and the fight ends, about two and a half minutes into the video.
A 24-year-old woman was left with a lacerated eye, but no one was seriously injured, the Philly Police Department said in a statement.
Officers spoke to everyone involved but made no arrests during the 7:30 p.m. dust build-up at the E-terminal.
That came as a surprise to a witness to the fighting, who told he was amazed to see such scenes at a busy international airport.
“I was shocked by how intense it was and how long it took,” said the fellow passenger, who requested anonymity.
Just as the fight seems to be fizzled out, the mother rushes to the counter and grabs a keyboard, but is dragged away and hit on the head
Her wig is ripped off before a uniformed officer finally shows up and the fight ends, about two and a half minutes into the video
A witness to the fighting told he was amazed to see such scenes in an airport as busy as Philadelphia
“I don’t know exactly who started this but there was a lot of screaming and I turned and saw two Spirit employees fighting a mother and daughter.
“Somebody bled. At some point a child interfered. No matter what he did, he’s just a kid – he looked distraught.
“When Spirit Airlines works like that, it’s really scary.”
The flight was delayed about an hour but continued to Florida without further incident.
The staff at ultra-low-cost airline Spirit – company motto “We SOAR by serving one another and our guests, one journey at a time” – have been embroiled in a series of ugly confrontations in recent years, some of which certainly haven’t been their fault.
Last August, a male agent was caught on video at Dallas Fort Worth airport assaulting and hitting a young woman who had been racially abusing and hitting him.
And in November 2021, two flight attendants had to restrain and zip-tie a drunk female passenger who stormed forward with her luggage mid-flight and declared, “I’m getting off.”
A 2020 flight from Newark to San Juan ended with a mass brawl and a woman berated for refusing to wear a mask and passengers exchanging racial and homophobic slurs.
Police said a 24-year-old woman suffered a lacerated eye, but no one was seriously injured and no arrests have yet been made over the dust
A spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Department described the recent scuffle as “simple assault.”
“At around 7:29 p.m. on Monday 30 January 2023, police received information that several passengers were about to pull apart a 24-year-old complainant and a 17-year-old woman, along with her 39-year-old mother, following a dispute over additional baggage fees” , it said in a statement.
“At that point, the 17-year-old woman was attempting to access Jetway and was stopped by the 24-year-old complainant when she was being punched/hair-pulled by the 17-year-old woman, who was being assisted by her 39-year-old mother .
“The 24-year-old woman sustained a minor laceration to her eyelid. All participants were counseled by the police with reference to private criminal complaint documents.’
Spirit Airlines did not respond to a request for comment.