A Delta Air Lines pilot hit a female passenger who was fighting with another woman on the floor of a boarding ramp in Atlanta in mid-April, according to a video released by TMZ.
Although the altercation occurred April 21, the video went viral over the Internet on Saturday. The video comes on the heels of a United Airlines passenger's bloody, forced removal from a flight earlier this month.
The Delta Air Lines video, apparently taken on a cellphone, shows two women cursing each other, then fighting on the jetway bridge as shocked passengers watch or scramble to get out of the way.
At one point, one of the women takes the other to the ground, then wraps her legs around her neck and head in an apparent chokehold. That's when the pilot walks over and intervenes. He grabs the woman's wrist and strikes her. It's unclear whether he does it with an open or closed fist.
According to TMZ, the women "had gotten into a skirmish earlier on the airplane, and they knew each other."
No one, including the pilot, was charged in the incident.
In a statement emailed to The Washington Post, Delta spokesman Brian Kruse said the pilot was attempting to de-escalate the fight.
"The pilot has since been returned to work as our investigation found that his actions de-escalated an altercation between passengers on the Jetway floor during deplaning," Kruse said.
Kruse said he wasn't authorized to give any additional information, including what airline personnel are instructed to do in such situations.
In a separate incident, an American Airlines employee on April 21 was accused of upsetting to the point of tears a woman who was carrying a baby, then getting into a heated exchange with a man who went to the woman's defense.
A video of the exchange surfaced on social media.
"You can't use violence with [a] baby," the female passenger says through tears, near the plane door where some passengers were still boarding. "Just give me back my stroller, please."
A male passenger gets up and demands to know the name of the male flight attendant who had spoken to the woman. The two men yell at each other after the flight attendant gets back on the plane.
"You do that to me, and I'll knock you flat," the man tells the flight attendant.
"Hit me," the flight attendant replies, motioning with his hands. "Come on, hit me!"
A Section on 04/30/2017