Former Sen. Al D’Amato was escorted off a JetBlue flight Monday night after trying to lead passengers in a rebellion against seating changes that followed a lengthy delay, an eyewitness told The Post.
JetBlue flight 1002 from Ft. Lauderdale to JFK was scheduled to depart at 1:40 pm Monday, but didn’t take off until 8 pm.
“Al D’Amato was just kicked off my flight,” the eyewitness, a fellow passenger, texted to a Post reporter mid-flight.
D’Amato and other passengers who were already “super cranky” about the six-and-a-half hour delay were even more upset when the flight crew asked people who paid extra for legroom to switch seats because of “weight and balance issues,” the passenger said.
“That’s when he [D’Amato] took to the aisles.”
The former senator from Long Island was downing wine at the airport bar before boarding, added the passenger.
D’Amato, who was sitting toward the back of the plane — in a seat with sparse legroom — began chanting “make them move,” which a smattering of fellow passengers took up, and marched up and down the aisle.
The outburst prompted the crew to ask D’Amato to leave.
“They’re throwing me off the plane because I complained about what they were doing,” he can be seen saying on one of the video’s posted to social media.
When he didn’t leave, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office was called in.
“We can still speak in this country,” D’Amato said during the stand off. “I’m making an appeal to all you people — you want to know what? Stand up for what’s right and walk out with me. That’s the only thing they’ll know.”
As sheriff’s deputies escorted him from the plane, another fed-up passenger followed suit.
“Here’s a gentleman who’s doing it,” he said. “Stand up and walk out. If you don’t, then don’t, what do you stand up for?”
A spokeswoman from the sheriff’s office denied any incident took place Monday night, but on Tuesday another rep conceded there had been one.
“It was not a law enforcement issue,” she said, despite video that shows sheriff’s deputies leading D’Amato from the jet .
Fellow passengers booed and hollered as D’Amato was escorted off, with one female passenger yelling “B—–t.”
Two passengers posted videos of the incident.
Passengers were given $100 credit for the delay, the source said. But it was unclear if D’Amato got the consolation prize.
A spokesman for D’Amato declined to say whether the Long Island lobbyist had been drinking, but said he had been up for 25 hours visiting an ailing friend.
“Anyone who knows Senator D’Amato knows he speaks his mind – but in this case he spoke after a long and demanding trip to Florida to visit an ailing friend,” the spokesman said.
“Jet Blue has apologized to the Senator for overreacting and the Senator apologized for speaking his mind at a time when he clearly had left his patience at the gate.”
JetBlue declined to comment on D’Amato’s ejection, but confirmed that a customer was removed from the flight.
“If a customer is causing a conflict on the aircraft, it is standard procedure to ask the customer to deplane, especially if the crew feels the situation runs a risk of escalation in-flight,” said airline spokesman Morgan Johnston.
Additional reporting Yoav Gonen.