“The Passenger Who Threw Her Weight Around — and Lost Everything”

It started as just another short Delta flight from New York’s JFK Airport to Syracuse. By the time the plane landed, one passenger’s outburst had gone viral — and her career was hanging by a thread.

Her name was Susan Perez, and she wasn’t just any traveler. Perez worked for the New York State Council on the Arts, a prestigious position within the state’s cultural community. But after her behavior on that flight was captured and shared online, she suddenly found herself on the other side of public judgment.

The drama began the moment Perez boarded the plane. She’d been assigned a seat in the back of the aircraft — an inconvenience that apparently didn’t sit well. Witnesses say she started swearing loudly about her seat assignment, drawing uncomfortable glances from nearby passengers.

Sitting just a few seats away was Marissa Rondell, traveling with her eight-month-old son, Mason. “I said, ‘Please don’t use that language in front of my son,’” Rondell recalled. “She turned around, looked right at me, and said, ‘Shut up.’”

From there, things escalated quickly. When Perez realized she’d be seated near the baby, she complained loudly: “He’s not going to cry the whole time, is he?”

Her comments caught the attention of a flight attendant named Tabatha, who calmly stepped in. “Thank you, Tabatha,” another passenger was heard saying — and that’s when everything shifted.

“You may not have a job,” Perez snapped at the attendant, trying to assert control. But instead of intimidating anyone, her remark drew disapproval from those nearby. Cameras were already recording.

Perez’s tone changed almost instantly. “She started apologizing,” Rondell said. “It was honestly funny — you don’t just go from being a psycho to apologizing like nothing happened. She totally deserved to get called out.”

Within hours, video clips of the confrontation spread online, racking up hundreds of thousands of views. Viewers were outraged — not just by Perez’s arrogance, but by the way she tried to belittle airline staff and a young mother.

When reporters identified her as an employee of the New York State Council on the Arts, the backlash intensified. By the next morning, Perez’s name and photo had been removed from the council’s official website, and officials confirmed she had been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

What was meant to be a quick commuter flight had turned into a PR nightmare — and a cautionary tale about entitlement in public spaces.

In a single afternoon, Susan Perez went from government professional to viral headline, her own words undoing years of professional credibility.

As one passenger summed it up afterward:
“She threw her weight around — and it came right back down on her.”