by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:00 PM ET, Tue May 9, 2017
A series of canceled flights Monday caused chaos at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, as hundreds of stranded passengers were confronted by Spirit Airlines employees and local police officers.
According to CBSNews.com, the madness took place at the front ticket counter of the Florida airport as nine Spirit Airlines flights were canceled.
The disgruntled passengers were frustrated with the airline's employees, and the Broward County deputies were called to the scene to restore order.
When the police arrived, footage from the scene shows several passengers getting into verbal arguments with officers. Several people were pulled away from the crowd by authorities and others were wrestled to the ground and arrested. In total, three people were arrested and another was detained.
Following the incident, Spirit Airlines spokesman Paul Berry blamed the company's pilots for the cancellations, saying the carrier was forced to file a lawsuit against the Airline Pilots Association because the pilots were refusing to fly in order to influence negotiations.
"We are shocked and saddened to see the videos of what took place at Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport this evening. This is a result of unlawful labor activity by some Spirit pilots designed to disrupt Spirit operations for our customers, by canceling multiple flights across our network," Berry said in a statement.
"These pilots have put their quest for a new contract ahead of getting customers to their destinations and the safety of their fellow Spirit Team Members. It is for this reason, Spirit has filed suit in Federal Court to protect our customers' future travel."
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Over the last week, an estimated 300 Spirit Airlines flights have been canceled or delayed, causing travel headaches across the United States for around 20,000 customers.
"The Air Line Pilots Association, Int'l and the Spirit pilot group it represents are not engaged in a job action," the pilots association said in a statement.
"Rather, ALPA and the Spirit pilots are continuing to do everything possible to help restore the company's operations, which have experienced significant problems over the past several days. While we will continue these efforts, we will actively defend the association, its officers and its member pilots against the unwarranted and counterproductive legal action brought this evening by Spirit Airlines."
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