Salt-N-Pepa member Sandra ‘Pepa’ Denton documented an incident in which she was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight heading from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday.
The 59-year-old rapper shared a video on Instagram seemingly showing the aftermath of the confrontation, after she had already left the jet.
In the video, in which he appears talking to employees, he said the problem began after one of the employees featured asked him why he had two seats.
Denton also claimed that another man asked for her seat and was apparently given it after she was escorted off the plane.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Southwest said: “Our flight crews are responsible for the safety and comfort of all passengers in the cabin. With this in mind, the customer was denied boarding and her ticket was refunded.”
Salt-N-Pepa member Sandra ‘Pepa’ Denton documented an incident in which she was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight heading from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday.
An Instagram video showed a subsequent confrontation with Southwest employees. She claims she was harassed for having a second seat, despite having purchased it.
A lawyer for Denton declined to comment.
The musician was taking the flight to a meeting in Nashville, and often chooses the same flight as she said it is the only direct flight to the music-centric city from Las Vegas, according to TMZ.
She said she opted to buy two seats because of a leg injury related to a car accident in 2018, and also had a greeter wheel her to the plane gate.
Southwest is famous for allowing passengers to choose their own seats once they board the plane, rather than forcing customers to choose seats in advance and charging extra for less uncomfortable seats, as most other airlines do.
Denton claims she was approached by a man, who is seen talking to her in her video, and asked why she had two seats.
He claimed in the video that he asked her why he didn’t see any cast or brace, even though she had one with her and allegedly put it on after their conversation.
It is unclear whether the employee was informed that Denton had purchased tickets for two seats, or whether he may have been under the impression that she was using a second seat without paying for it because of an alleged medical condition.
However, she notes in the video that Southwest has a policy that allows large customers to get a second seat in some cases, though she told Denton she wasn’t “invading” the seat next to her, so he assumed that wasn’t the reason she had a seat.
The video does not clarify why exactly Pepa was kicked off the flight after that first encounter. In the clip, she says that a man asked for her seat and then the employee who first questioned her indicates that she was kicked off for filming on the flight.
She told TMZ that she bought a second seat because of a leg injury she suffered in a car accident years earlier. But Denton said employees questioned her about whether she had a second seat.
She claimed a passenger asked for her seat because he was going to a “funeral” but refused to show it. An employee (pictured) told Denton she had been kicked out for filming the crew.
Southwest did not respond to a question about its policy on passengers filming their interactions with flight crews.
Denton responded that he had never filmed while on the plane and claimed that he was simply on a call with his assistant and that it was not until he got off the plane that he began filming.
However, it did not appear that the employees were going to reverse the decision, and he and another woman who Denton said was involved in the disturbance attempted to get her to leave the jetway to the plane, as it was about to depart and the jetway would move.
Towards the end of the clip, she loudly yells at the employee after turning her camera toward the exit, though it’s unclear whether he touched her as she began to slowly walk away.
During the altercation, Denton was shown both of his tickets on camera to prove he had paid for both seats, though Southwest has now refunded him for them.
The airline did not respond to questions about whether it had reached out to Denton in response to the incident, but she told TMZ that she is considering possible legal action against the airline.
In her video, she mentioned a male passenger who asked her to give up her second seat.
Speaking to TMZ, Denton claimed the man told her he needed the second seat because he was headed to a funeral. It’s unclear if there were no other seats available on the flight at the time she asked.
The rapper said she tried to explain to the man that she had the seat because of an injury and said other passengers began arguing about whether or not she should give up the seat after paying extra for it.
She seemed suspicious about the man’s story, and Pepa said she asked him to swear that he was taking the flight to a funeral, although she claims he later refused to do so and apparently did not provide her with any proof that he was going to a funeral.
She says her assistant urged her to record the entire ordeal, although she claims she did not do so.
But after that, staff told her she had to leave the flight, although she claims she was not given any reason for being removed.
Denton says that after the man asked for his seat, the crew tried to move her to an exit row, but because she was injured and disabled, she would not have been able to help in an emergency.
The rapper said she was refunded the $2,500 she paid for tickets, but lost what she paid to be wheeled onto the plane and what she paid for a car service in Nashville. She said she is exploring legal options; she is pictured here in 2021 in New York.
According to Denton, the man who claimed he needed her second paid seat ended up getting it after she was kicked off the flight.
It’s unclear what role the man played in her ejection, but the Salt-N-Pepa member also alleged that flight attendants attempted to move her to an exit row, which she would not have been able to sit in, as her injury would have prevented her from helping with the evacuation if there was an emergency.
She said she was able to reschedule the meeting she was traveling to in Nashville, but paid for the receptionist to drive her to the plane and also lost the $500 she paid for car service at her destination.
However, Denton said Southwest refunded him the $2,500 he paid for his tickets.
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