Spirit Airlines flight
A woman on Spirit Airlines Flight 845 from Detroit lit up a cigarette as the plane was taxiing to the gate in Fort Lauderdale.
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  • An unruly passenger lit a cigarette while on a Spirit Airlines flight from Detroit to Fort Lauderdale, videos show.
  • The woman blew smoke in the face of a passenger who has asthma, the Daily Mail reported.
  • The woman was escorted off the flight by law enforcement officers and was not arrested.
  • See more stories on Insider's business page.

An unidentified woman was escorted by deputies off a Spirit Airlines flight from Detroit because she violated federal law by lighting a cigarette in the plane cabin, the Miami Herald reported.

Footage taken by a fellow passenger, and shared on social media, shows the woman smoking a cigarette as the plane taxis on the tarmac at Fort Lauderdale International Airport.

Alexa Majdalawi, who goes by @heyalexa_nah on TikTok, shared a video of her asking the woman to quit smoking.

@heyalexa_nah

#duet with @beatrixtrifonova you guys! She got a video of when she lit up and me talking to her lol 😂 you can hear her say “it’s been a long day”

♬ original sound – Beatrix Trifonova

The woman replies: "It's been hell."

Majdalawi told the Miami Herald that, because she has asthma, the smoke was making it hard for her to breathe.

According to the Daily Mail, the woman then "turned around" and blew smoke in Majdalawi's face.

Majdalawi reported the smoker to flight attendants and said they offered her the chance to move seats.

@heyalexa_nah

Definitely never flying spirit again.

♬ original sound - Alexa Majdalawi

Another clip, also shared by Majdalawi on TikTok, shows police officers arriving to remove the unruly passenger from the flight.

In the video, which now has over 10 million views, another person on the flight can be heard saying: "Come get her, please, bro, because she's holding us all up."

The same passenger then accuses the disobedient woman of "acting dead" while officers try to wake her to remove her from the flight.

The woman woke up and, according to the Miami Herald, complied with the deputies' requests. She was escorted off the plane and was not arrested, the local media outlet said.

In a statement to the Miami Herald, Spirit Airlines said: "When Flight 845 from Detroit was taxiing to the gate in Fort Lauderdale, a passenger inexplicably decided to light a cigarette in violation of federal law."

The statement continued: "Flight attendants noticed the odor and the other guests were quick to point out who was responsible and hand over what remained of the extinguished cigarette. Our crew summoned law enforcement officers to have them waiting at the gate to remove the passenger."

Insider contacted Spirit Airlines but did not receive a response before publication.

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