Viral TikTok Shows Family Getting Booted Off Flight Over 'Invalid' Ticket

A Hawaiian Airlines passenger went viral on TikTok after his family was removed from a flight over a ticketing error -- even though they already boarded.

On July 2, Ryan DeMarre and his daughter were seated on a flight from Seattle to Maui, Hawaii. Right before takeoff, however, airline staff told DeMarre they had to get off the plane due to an "invalid ticket." The TikTok begins with two flight employees hovering over DeMarre's seat.

"Some problem with my ticket?" he asked. One of them replies, "Yeah." That's when DeMarre told his daughter, "They're asking us to leave."

"How did we get through TSA and on a plane with an invalid ticket and a minor?" the father wrote in the caption of the video, which has racked up over 2.9 million views as of Wednesday (July 13). The footage shows DeMarre leaving the plane and later asking a Hawaiian Airlines agent if they're going to make the flight.

"No, your ticket is invalid," the agent replies, even though the plane still has the family's luggage. Because the next available flight was the following day, DeMarre says he bought a same-day round-trip ticket with Delta for $2,000.

In a follow-up TikTok, the traveler explains Hawaiian Airlines acknowledge their "mistakes" and refunded him for the original flights, the Delta flights, and his Uber fare while in Maui.

This incident happened during the July 4 holiday weekend, when thousands of flights were either delayed or canceled because of staff shortages, rising fuel prices, and other factors. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says they screened over 11.3 million people between June 30 and July 4, making it the busiest travel period since the COVID-19 pandemic.