by Donald Wood
Last updated: 11:54 AM ET, Tue October 2, 2018
A Southwest Airlines flight preparing to take off from Chicago was delayed Saturday after one of the passengers was removed for yelling racial slurs at flight attendants.
According to ABC13.com, Southwest Flight 5593 was getting ready for a journey from Chicago Midway International Airport to William P. Hobby Airport in Houston when a woman on the plane became upset with the crew members who told her to put her tray table up.
Other passengers on the flight videoed the incident, which showed the unidentified woman in a back brace and walking with a cane. As the woman became angrier and was removed from the plane, she began cursing at flight attendants and used the N-word.
*Some language in video NSFW.
"The customer became unruly and verbally abusive toward our flight attendants, and the decision was made to return to the gate to deplane the customer, where she was met by local law enforcement officers," a Southwest spokesperson told ABC13.
"Our employees handled the situation professionally with grace and class, and we do not condone or tolerate such profane and unruly behavior on board our aircraft," the statement continued. "Once the customer deplaned the aircraft, the flight resumed to Houston Hobby, arriving about an hour later than originally scheduled."
The woman has not yet been charged with a crime, but the airline and local police are investigating the incident.
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