Violence Erupts at a Florida Airport After Multiple Flight Cancellations -<br />By JONAH ENGEL BROMWICHMAY 9, 2017<br />Passengers at an airport in Florida protested on Monday night after the cancellation of multiple flights, leading to a confrontation with airline employees<br />and sheriff’s deputies who arrested three travelers while attempting to restore order.<br />The airline filed a lawsuit in federal court on Monday against the Air Line Pilots Association, International, accusing it of coordinating a “pervasive illegal work slowdown”<br />that it said had led to the cancellation of about 300 Spirit flights since the beginning of May and had interfered with the travel plans of over 20,000 passengers.<br />According to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, the arrests were made after customers screamed at<br />and threatened Spirit Airline employees, inciting unrest in a crowd of about 500 people at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.<br />He blamed the cancellations on airline pilots who he said were engaged in “unlawful labor activity”<br />that was “designed to disrupt Spirit operations.” But the pilots’ union disputed that statement.<br />Flight Aware, a flight-tracking site, indicated that 11 Spirit Airlines flights were canceled at the airport on Monday and that 30 were delayed.<br />Their anger was set off by the flight cancellations, the sheriff’s office said in a statement, and deputies were sent in to calm the crowd.
