Woman kicked off flight for refusing to stow designer handbag under seat

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A Chinese woman was escorted off a flight after she refused to stow her designer handbag under the seat in front of her, causing an hour-long delay.

A fellow passenger, who chose to stay anonymous, posted a video on social media platform Douyin, showing the entire incident which involved multiple conversations between the woman and the flight crew, the South China Morning Post reported.

The passenger said in her video that the woman refused to keep her Louis Vuitton handbag under the seat in front for takeoff and insisted on placing it next to her on the seat.

The incident occurred on 10 August on a flight from Chongqing municipality in southwestern China.

The flight had to return to the boarding gate, causing a delay of an hour as the woman was taken off. The delay also disrupted other flights.

Air passengers are always requested to keep their bags in overhead storage compartments or under the seats in front of them since anything that could become a projectile or block an escape route in case of turbulence or an evacuation is a safety hazard.

“The flight attendant could have offered her a bag to put her handbag in. Is it really necessary to waste an hour and kick her off the plane?” one Douyin user asked.

“The flight attendant did not insist on the rule for nothing. The woman should value her safety and that of other passengers rather than the bag,” said another.

The video shows the other passengers applauding as the woman is escorted out of the plane.

Last year, passengers on a flight from New Jersey to Atlanta took a vote on whether to have a woman removed after she started a fight with another traveller.