Delta Passenger Kicked Off His Flight Refused a Seat Swap and Recorded Crew
A Delta Air Lines passenger who didn’t want to give up his seat ended up getting removed from the plane after recording an argument with the crew. The September 9 incident happened on Flight 983, which was traveling from Bogotá, Colombia, to Atlanta.
Santiago Daza said a woman wanted to sit beside her husband, and he was asked to switch seats with her. He told Caracol Radio that he looked at the other seat, but it was smaller and didn’t have as much room as the one he already had.
Another crew member approached Daza and asked for his name after he decided to stay in his seat. Daza said the interaction felt strange, so he told the employee he was going to record and turned on the camera in his Meta smart glasses.
The recording became another problem when crew members asked Daza to stop filming, and he was eventually told to leave the aircraft. Delta later told Minuto60 that he was removed for not following crew instructions, but the airline didn’t say exactly which instruction he had refused.
Crew Members Ask Passenger to Stop Recording
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The video starts after the request to change seats, when the argument is already underway. A crew member asks Daza to remove his glasses, while another can be heard saying in English, “He’s recording me right now.”
The employee also asks, “Can you disconnect that?” Daza wants to speak with the captain, but he’s told that the captain has already made the decision to remove him from the flight.
Daza points out that the captain hasn’t even spoken to him. A woman sitting nearby also defended him, telling him he hadn’t done anything wrong, according to Noticias Caracol.
By this point, Daza was worried about missing his other flights. He eventually gathered his belongings and got off the plane. Daza later explained that he wanted to have a recording of what happened. He said he would have used his phone if he hadn’t been wearing the smart glasses.
Delta Offers Passenger $150 After Removing Him From Flight
Once Daza was off the plane, a Delta employee helped book him on another flight without charging him for the change. However, he said he lost his original itinerary and ended up with additional expenses. Daza was trying to get back to Orlando, but the flight change delayed his trip. He also wanted to know why the captain had decided to remove him.
In another Instagram video, Daza said Delta told him it couldn’t find a report from the captain or crew explaining what happened. He also claimed the airline offered him $150 in travel credit, which he wasn’t willing to accept.
During his October 6 interview with Caracol Radio, Daza said he wasn’t trying to get rich from the situation. He wanted an explanation for why he was removed from the plane and hoped Delta would offer an apology or compensation.
