Passengers Kicked Off Indiana Flight Over Cellphone Dispute

FORT WAYNE, IN — An airline passenger said Delta and SkyWest Airlines have not taken responsibility for a flight attendant she claims unjustly removed her and three others from a flight in Fort Wayne on Saturday, June 23. In an Instagram post that was also shared on Facebook, Deejay Reborn, whose real name is Robyn Rodgers, said she boarded Delta Flight 4527 in Fort Wayne, when just before takeoff, a flight attendant came up and "rudely" told her to put her phone on "airplane mode." When Rodgers was doing so, she said the attendant "menacingly" stood over her with her arms folded, waiting.

According to Rodgers' social media post, she told the flight attendant she knew how to turn on airplane mode, and that the woman didn't have to stand over her. That's when Rodgers said the flight attendant told her, "If you’re gonna act like that, we can go back to the gate and you can get off,” and stormed off before returning a moment later to announce the plane was returning to the gate.

Video taken by a fellow passenger shows the event unfold.

The footage shows Rodgers speaking to the flight attendant while remaining seated, allegedly after the attendant announced the plane was returning to the gate.

Rodgers claims the woman accused her of not turning on airplane mode after being "told to do so several times," but really only asked Rodgers once.

According to Rodgers, the passenger sitting behind her (@ryanmillerphotos) spoke out in Rodgers' defense, along with Elena, a Latina woman two rows ahead of her, who Rodgers claims politely asked the flight attendant to sit down so that they could fly. Elena was trying to get back to Texas because her son was having heart surgery, according to Rodgers. However, Rodgers said the flight attendant threatened to kick @ryanmillerphotos off the flight and snapped at Elena.

"We returned to the gate an officer boarded the plane and the flight attendant directed him to take me, the Latina woman @ryanmillerphotos off of the flight then the entire plane had to deboard," Rodgers said. "Subsequently 4 adults and a little boy, were ejected permanently from the flight and stranded in Indiana with no place to stay as @delta refused to put any of us,including the man with the child,in a hotel. That was the last flight out. Elena, the Latina woman who was also ejected was rushing back to Texas because her son was having heart surgery and @delta prevented her from getting home to him."

Rodgers said she's in touch with the other ejected passengers and a few witnesses who can confirm what happened, adding the airlines didn't provide any compensation after kicking them off the flight.

According to Fox News, Delta has not yet responded to a request for comment, but SkyWest, which had operated the flight as a Delta connection, released a statement promising to follow up with the passengers.

"We take all allegations of discrimination seriously and are reviewing reports from SkyWest flight 4527 operating as Delta Connection. We are disappointed that our customers had this experience and are working with our partner Delta to follow up directly with the customers involved,” SkyWest.

As of June 30, Rodgers said @delta has left only one message and one vague email since she filed a formal complaint on Monday, June 25.

Image via Shutterstock