Spirit passengers brawl on flight into Boston: ‘They were choking each other out'

Passengers on that flight said they could hear a tense verbal exchange during the flight, but were unprepared for what happened when it landed

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It was a tussle on the tarmac as a fight broke out on a recent Spirit Airlines flight right after it landed at Logan Airport.

"Everything seemed fine and dandy until we hit the ground," said Framingham resident Nicole Grome, who recorded video of the fight on her cell phone. "The tension was really building, you could cut it with a knife, the tension was so thick."

Grome, and her mother Laura Grome, say the fight started shortly after their May 7 Spirit flight landed from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. They add that during the flight they could hear a tense verbal exchange but nothing could prepare them for what happened next. 

"They were choking each other out, it was kinda a really crazy sight to see, it was like straight out of a movie," Grome said.

The Grome family had been in Myrtle Beach for several days as they helped Nicole change college dorm rooms, and they were flying home, tired after a day of moving. They credit a Spirit flight attendant who got in between the two men to try and break up the fight.

"They are trained to try and de-escalate things as much as possible," said Mark Weinkrantz, a retired commercial and military pilot.

"People travel, they surrender a lot of their space, they surrender their comfort and other people are in charge and it makes things uncomfortable," he added. "It is the perfect environment for a small incident between two people to erupt into a much bigger confrontation."

Laura Grome agrees, wondering aloud whatever happened to good manners.

"Where is the decorum, you know? You are supposed to fly, and be respectful, in a closed environment, there are certain places where you are respectful, a library is one of them, an airplane!" she said.

Spirit Airlines issued a statement on the situation:

"Law enforcement was requested due to a disturbance that occurred as Spirit Airlines flight 3907 (MYR-BOS) was deplaning in Boston (BOS) on May 7," Spirit said in a statement. "We do not tolerate disruptive behavior of any kind, and the passengers involved are no longer welcome on any of our flights."

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