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JetBlue passengers threatened with arrest for trying to grab luggage during landing

‘I give these flight attendants credit because I had it with these passengers,’ Karen Green-Walker, who recorded TikTok videos of the incident, said

Kelly Rissman
Sunday 17 September 2023 15:42 EDT
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JetBlue flight attendants threatened to call the police as passengers attempted to take their luggage out of the overhead bins during landing.

A TikTok video captured the drama onboard as the flight from New York’s La Guardia Airport to Florida’s Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport saw some uncooperative passengers eager to deboard the plane.

“Please close the overhead bins,” a flight attendant can be heard saying slowly and deliberately over the intercom in the video. Text over the video said, “People were standing and pulling down their luggage. We were landing and still in the air.”

“I give these flight attendants credit because I had it with these passengers,” Karen Green-Walker, the TikTok user, wrote in the video caption.

The Independent has not confirmed whether police were in fact called, and has contacted JetBlue for comment.

Ms Green-Walker later explained to the Daily Mail that many were trying to make a connecting flight to Quito, Ecuador.

She recounted the passenger-induced turbulence: “The young lady sitting next to me was on the Quito flight and the rude passengers wouldn’t even let her through to get a bag.”

Ms Green-Walker said that after the plane landed, flight attendants had hoped to let the 22 connecting passengers off first, but more than 22 people stood up and tried to leave the plane. She captured this in a separate TikTok video.

As a result, those on connecting flights ended up missing their flights, she explained.

Other TikTok users weighed in. Someone commented, “People are so entitled these days. No more common courtesy. They don’t care if people miss their connecting flight.”

Another remarked, “Why I sat way in the front because people are so rude.”

Someone else related to the situation, “Flight etiquette has been insane recently I’ve had people in rows BEHIND SHOVE PAST ME.”

Another mentioned a potential safety hazard: “I wish people understood WHY it’s dangerous to pull bags from overhead bins while landing.”

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