Passenger Kicked Off Southwest Flight Tries To Run Back On Plane, Gets Tackled Instead

Image courtesy of CBS Chicago

A man who was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight last night was not going to take no for an answer, and apparently thought he could somehow run his way back onto the plane. He was mistaken.

According to CBS Chicago, the incident — some of which was caught on video — began shortly after travelers boarded the Chicago-bound plane in Las Vegas.

One passenger tells CBS Chicago that the man entered the restroom after boarding and would not leave. Once the crew convinced him to leave the restroom, he was asked to leave the plane. But the traveler apparently wasn’t ready to give up on his journey to Chicago just yet.

“Next thing you know, he tried to fight his way back on, and that’s when the Southwest guys came and got him,” one passenger tells CBS. Another traveler notes that the man’s second entry onto the plane was violent and that he pushed people out of his way.

Video of the incident shows a Southwest employee holding the man, whose hands were eventually zip-tied, down on the plane’s floor until Las Vegas police officers took him away.

A rep for Southwest tells CBS that its crew members acted appropriately to remedy the situation.

“The passenger became unruly and our employees utilized their training to manage the situation until local law enforcement could assist with removing the passenger from the flight,” the company said.

The flight landed in Chicago about an hour behind schedule.

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