Woman From Viral Airplane Punching Video Says Airline Threatened Her With Arrest For Posting The Clip!

Airplane passenger Wendi Williams, whose seat was repeatedly punched by an angry traveler sitting behind her on an American Airlines flight, is sharing even more details about her harrowing mile-high incident!

According to a report from TMZ, Williams claims the flight attendant who got involved in the dispute threatened to have her kicked off the flight and even prosecuted by the feds for initially refusing to delete a now-viral video of the man’s questionable behavior. Boy, this sure escalated quickly!

Wendi shared a copy of a “passenger disturbance notice” given to her by the AA attendant for recording what transpired with the unidentified man behind her.

The document outlined three major offenses prohibited by law and explained authorities are allowed to forcibly remove any individual who is caught “threatening, intimidating or interfering with a Crewmember,” “smoking on a non-smoking flight or in the lavatory,” and “drinking alcoholic beverages not served by a Crewmember or creating an alcoholic-related disturbance.”

Williams told the outlet she eventually did comply and delete the video; it was later recovered from the “recently deleted” folder on her iPhone and shared online for the world to see. But in her humble opinion? None of those warnings described what went down on the commercial flight from New Orleans to Charlotte on January 31.

We think it’s worth checking out the clip again for another refresher:

https://twitter.com/steelersfanOG/status/1226346795741143040?s=20

In a series of messages shared on her Twitter, Wendi alleged the attendant came over and sided with the man behind her and even offered him free alcohol. In one tweet, she claimed AA offered her a weak apology for what happened and even asked her to direct any further complaints to the FBI.

When she spoke with TMZ, Williams said the man was punching and shoving her seat way more violently prior to her turning on her phone to capture his behavior. In the wake of the whole ordeal, Williams claims to have suffered neck problems and wants AA to foot her medical bills to get things checked out. She also wants the man who assaulted her space identified and the attendant involved to be fired for how they handled the dispute.

A rep for American Airlines told the outlet they are still looking into the matter. In the meantime, Delta‘s CEO Ed Bastian has decided to weigh in on this controversy!

During an appearance on CNBC‘s Squawk Box on Friday, Bastian called the situation an “etiquette issue.” The executive explained if a passenger knows a tall person is sitting behind them, they should ask permission before they recline. Presumably, that means if the person declines then the passenger can’t recline. In regards to his own flying habits and where he stands on #reclinegate, Bastian clarified:

“I don’t recline when I fly but people have the right to.”

WATCH him comment on the matter in the clip (below):

Hmm. Here’s a thought: maybe people would be able to comfortably recline without any bruhaha like this if there was a decent amount of space to begin with?!

Perezcious readers, does this change how you feel about #reclinegate?? Stop charging an arm and a leg for peanuts!!

[Image via YouTube]