A viral TikTok says a mother-daughter duo yelled at passengers who wouldn't swap seats on a Southwest Airlines flight
- A viral TikTok showed a pair of women causing a stir on a Southwest Airlines flight.
- The TikTok creator said one of the two yelled at passengers to switch seats with them.
- The TikTok creator alleged that the women delayed the flight and were eventually removed.
A viral TikTok video appeared to show two women ejected from a Southwest Airlines flight after one of them yelled at other passengers to demand they get an aisle seat.
The clip, first posted on July 15, had garnered over 600,000 views and almost 50,000 likes at the time of writing. The creator, who goes by the handle @official_norcal_mom, said the incident occurred on a California flight from Sacramento to San Diego.
In the video, the creator, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, referred to the two women as "Karen" and "Karen 2.0" in on-screen text.
"Karen" is a term used to describe a white woman who has an inappropriate public outburst that others deem as overdramatic or coming from a place of privilege. Insider has previously reported on viral "Karen" incidents.
At the start of the video, which did not fully capture how the event unfolded, the TikTok creator wrote in on-screen text that the incident began after the pair of women asked passengers to move so they could have an aisle seat.
Southwest Airlines has a "pick a seat" policy, which allows passengers to take any seat that's available when they board the aircraft.
The TikTok creator's on-screen text said one of the two women started yelling at passengers to request they switch seats with her.
Toward the start of the video, the women stood in the middle of the aisle speaking to a flight attendant, who told the pair, "We can't have nobody yelling" when there are "families" and "little kids" on the flight.
In response, one of the women explained that she was trying to "make the announcement."
Then, another flight attendant asked the women to return to the jet bridge, which is the moving bridge that connects airplanes to the boarding gate.
One of the women, who the TikTok creator later alleged was the daughter, replied: "It's okay. We'll just go sit down. She can just cry and scream on the plane. She's going to grab onto you and scream and cry."
Then, the women appeared to walk down the aisle and sit down.
In response to the "scream and cry" remark, a flight attendant said to one of the women, "Ma'am, if you're going to say things like that, then we have to put you on a different plane."
At the end of the TikTok, the two women appeared to take their luggage and were ejected from the aircraft, the Daily Mail and other outlets reported.
The TikToker's on-screen text said other passengers applauded when the women were removed.
Southwest Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Insider has not been able to identify the women in the video.
The incident comes as instances of unruly plane passengers have increased in the past year, with the Federal Aviation Administration reiterating in a recent press release that it has a "zero-tolerance policy toward passengers who cause disturbances on flights, fail to obey flight crew instructions in violation of the FAA's regulations, or engage in conduct proscribed by federal law."