Delta Passenger Got Kicked Off After Refusing To Swap Seats

A Delta Air Lines passenger says he agreed to switch seats so a couple could sit together, changed his mind when he saw they were actually offering him a worse seat, and wound up getting kicked off the plane. Delta says he failed to follow crewmember instructions. The passenger says they later offered him a $150 travel credit, which he’s rejecting. Santiago Daza was traveling on Delta flight 983 from Bogotá to Atlanta on September 9, connecting onward to Orlando. His account and recordings have been spreading through Colombian media this week, nearly a month after the incident. According to Daza, a flight attendant asked him to move so a woman could sit beside her husband. He initially said yes. Once he saw the seat he’d get stuck with he decided to keep his assigned seat. Then another crewmember approached and asked his name. He saw the interaction going sideways and said he’d be record it using his Meta glasses. The footage captures an employee objecting to the recording and asking him to turn it off. Later, an employee tells him the captain has decided he’s off the aircraft. Other passengers get involved. Some object to the recording, while the woman beside him supports him. According to local media she tells him, translated from Spanish, “I’m a witness that you haven’t done anything.” Santiago Daza’s onboard recordings, shared by Colombia Oscura on October 5, 2026. Delta confirmed the incident involved flight 983 in September, that the passenger was removed after refusing crew instructions, and that they rebooked him on a later flight. It appears the instruction was not to record. Declining the seat swap should have been the end of the matter. I’ve written for years that seat swaps work better when you offer a better seat or offer money. One Delta passenger offered $100 to trade his middle seat for an aisle so he could sit beside his girlfriend. The passenger with the aisle accepted. Both got something. I’ve covered a Delta baggage employee calling police after realizing a customer was recording their interaction. In many of these cases a customer service issue gets escalated by the employee into a law enforcement issue. And the only way to protect oneself is with a recording. “Follow crew instructions” explains the power an employee can exercise over a passenger but doesn’t apply to literally all instructions, however a captain’s authority to remove a passenger is rarely reviewable. There’s tremendous deference to the captain’s judgment, so unless they openly declare a removal was for an impermissible reason they can do it with impunity. That’s for a reason, but it creates problems in edge cases. Daza has since posted this follow-up: #OPINE. El joven que fue expulsado de un vuelo de Delta Air Lines tras negarse a ceder su asiento y grabar la situación con sus Meta Glasses se pronunció en redes sociales para denunciar que la aerolínea le ofreció una compensación económica de 150 dólares para calmar el asunto. La aerolínea además, pidió al pasajero eliminar de redes sociales los videos que dejaron en evidencia la situación, sin embargo, el joven rechazó rotundamente la propuesta y aseguró que continuará exigiendo justicia por lo que considera un abuso y un procedimiento irregular por parte de la tripulación. 📹 [ https://t.co/mCqUOqWeJt ] — Colombia Oscura (@ColombiaOscura) October 6, 2026 He says Delta’s customer service team told him they’d reviewed the flight and couldn’t find a report from either the captain or the crew explaining his removal. He’s rejecting the $150 credit and continuing his complaint. (HT: Live and Let’s Fly) Topics on this page