Ted Cruz Gets Airport Security Called on Him After Getting ‘Frustrated’ With Employees When He Missed His Flight
On Monday, Texas Senator Ted Cruz made headlines for calling attention to himself at the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport in Montana after he missed his flight.
According to a post by Reddit user u/disleksiaRools, Senator Cruz became frustrated when he missed the check-in window for his United Airlines flight and wasn’t able to immediately book another flight. After continuing to hassle the airline’s employees, the staff called over a public safety officer to handle the situation.
The Reddit post was titled, “Ted Cruz accosting airline employees today at BZN after missing his flight. Law enforcement had to be called when he wouldn’t calm down.”
Reddit user u/disleksiaRools posted a video of what appears to be the tail-end of the confrontation. In the video, a masked Ted Cruz stands behind an airport counter, shaking his head and exchanging words with a public safety officer. What Cruz is saying to the officer is inaudible.
“One of our Public Safety Officers (PSO) was in the ticket lobby and was asked to assist with a frustrated passenger at the United ticket counter (which is not unusual),” said Scott Humphrey, the deputy director of Bozeman Airport, to The Daily Mail. “Once travel options were explained to the passenger, he was rebooked and departed Bozeman later that evening. Our PSO didn’t realize he was dealing with Senator Cruz until after the fact.”
According to u/disleksiaRools, during the confrontation, Senator Cruz allegedly asked to speak to the United Airlines staff manager and even repeated, “Do you know who I am?” several times.
I HATE the phrase “do you know who I am”- people in ICU use to ask that question all the time-my response was “I don’t care who you are you get the same treatment in here no matter who you are”
— Deborah Daughters (@Agoddess4u2) March 22, 2022
U/disleksiaRools later clarified that they wanted to share the video not as an attempt to spread a “propaganda hit piece,” but to bring attention to the entitled attitudes that many elected officials have.
“It’s not an uncommon scene at the airport. An entitled ‘Karen‘ misses their flight and demands special treatment,” wrote u/disleksiaRools in a follow-up comment. “They deny any wrongdoing of their own and somehow come to the conclusion that it’s the airline’s fault that they missed their flight.”
They continued: “… What is uncommon and unacceptable is when this behavior is displayed by an elected official. His constituents whom he represents, I’m sure, would not be impressed.”
Why is this dude always everywhere but Texas?
— Jason Marino (@thejasonmarino) March 21, 2022
U/disleksiaRools explained that their use of the words “accosting” was “hyperbolic.”
“I don’t think he was directly verbally abusing airline staff,” they explained. “More just being an entitled prick. He did, however, make thinly veiled threats towards the employment of the people involved. Demanding their names and threatening to call corporate. Presumably to flex his political weight to punish the employees involved and/or receive special treatment.”
So far, Ted Cruz has not responded to multiple media outlets’ request for a statement.
This is not the first time Senator Cruz has caught flack for his behavior at an airport. As a refresher, in February of last year, Ted Cruz notoriously fled Texas to vacation in Cancún when his state was in the midst of a deadly winter storm and power grid crisis. Since then, critics and media outlets alike have often referred to him as “Cancún Cruz.”
