BREAKING NEWS – Los Angeles, California – Seven African-American passengers were booted from a Spirit Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Dallas-Fort Worth International Monday, raising concerns that the flight crew discriminated against them because of their race. Los Angeles Airport police officers initially escorted just one couple off Flight 868 shortly after 7:15 p.m. local time because a white flight attendant accused a male traveler of being disruptive when he refused to get up from his seat. Five more passengers were asked to leave after allegedly questioning the flight crew’s motives in kicking the couple off the flight. Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza commented on the incident during a press conference stating that, “The reason why the additional five passengers were removed, was because they were speaking hip-hop language to each other, and the flight attendant could not determine if it was a casual conversation or a potential threat. Unfortunately our bilingual flight attendant had the day off, so for the sake of safety, we didn’t want to take any chances.”
