It wasn’t the canceled flight on Christmas Day that upset Shelley Morrison the most. It was the police officer threatening to arrest her if she didn’t leave a secure area of the airport.
Ms. Morrison and her three daughters had arrived at Nashville International Airport two hours early on Dec. 25 for their Southwest Airlines flight to Cleveland to see family in Ohio.
But as the airline canceled flights across the country, sowing confusion, disappointment and anger among thousands of travelers, Ms. Morrison tried to find out more information about what was happening with her flight.
As she waited in line among frustrated travelers hoping to speak to an employee at a Southwest gate, an airline employee called security and two police officers with the airport’s Department of Public Safety showed up, she said.
One officer told the Southwest travelers that they needed to leave “or you’ll be arrested for trespassing,” according to a TikTok video recorded by Ms. Morrison’s daughter, Amani Robinson, 20.
“Go. Right now,” the officer said. “Everybody to the unsecure side. The ticket counter will help you with any questions you have.”
The airport, in a statement, said its officers were working “to ensure the safety of all passengers” as severe winter weather wreaked havoc on holiday air travel.
Ms. Morrison said that text notifications that she had received from Southwest had indicated that her flight was only delayed, not canceled. On the video, she asked the officer directly if he was threatening to arrest people for trespassing.
“Yes,” he said. “If you don’t have a valid ticket and you’re on the secured side and refuse to leave, you will be arrested.”
Ms. Morrison replied: “We do have tickets. We have valid tickets.”
And the officer said, “Well, if your ticket is canceled, you no longer have a ticket. You understand that, right?”
The officer added that Southwest had called the police because travelers were congregating near a gate that needed to be closed.
Ms. Morrison said that she went to another line for information when the officer approached her again.
According to a second TikTok video recorded by Ms. Robinson, the officer asked to see her tickets and took them to a Southwest employee, who confirmed that her flight had been canceled. The officer instructed Ms. Morrison once again to leave the secure side of the airport, the video shows.
Ms. Morrison, who is Black, asked the officer why he chose to stop her and ask her for…
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