ORLANDO, Fla. – A father and daughter in Orlando are claiming they were unfairly kicked off a Frontier Airline flight Wednesday.
Whitney Miller, 25, and her father Eric Miller, 70, said the two were having a private conversation expressing their displeasure with the airline after an eight-hour flight delay.
Frontier Airlines said the two passengers were shouting profanities at the flight attendants.
In the cellphone video recorded by another passenger, the family is seen in a confrontation with the flight crew as they are being escorted off. The video does not show the initial contact the Millers had with airline staff members.
Whitney Miller said they didn't know a flight attendant was standing behind them, listening to what they called a quiet and private conversation. Miller said the two discussed how "miserable" the flight crew seemed and how they never wanted to travel Frontier again.
The family said that's when the flight attendant walked over to the other flight attendants. Moments later, they claim another member of the flight crew approached them aggressively.
"They would lean over the back of the chair in front of us, get their face right up to here and they would simply ask, 'Do we have a problem?'" Eric Miller said.
"It was, 'No, do you have a problem? Do you want to be removed from the aircraft?' We responded, 'No.' We didn't know what was going on, what's happening. Please tell us what's happening," Whitney Miller said.
Frontier Airlines told News 6 that the passengers were heard calling the flight staff profanities. "Our flight attendants are customer service and safety professionals who are trained to recognize situations that may impact comfort and safety of passengers and crew on board our aircraft. The behaviors and comments exhibited by these passengers prior to departure were inappropriate; and as a result they were asked to leave our aircraft. Safety and security of our passengers and crew is our number one priority."
The passenger who recorded the video said she has never met the Millers and they are strangers to her. She said she did not hear them say anything offensive and that the flight attendant was eavesdropping into their private conversation. She also said the clapping in the video was prompted by other passengers supporting what Eric Miller was heard saying to the flight crew while being escorted off, showing support for the family.
The Millers said they are now planning a road trip to visit their ill relative after the negative flight experience and Frontier has refunded their tickets.