Flight Attendant Charged With Assault After Racially Motivated Comments Alleged

A Sun Country Airlines flight attendant has been charged with second-degree assault in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, following accusations from a passenger that she made racially motivated comments and attempted to interfere with a video recording.

Passenger Alleges Racially Motivated Behavior

Lauren Price, a Black woman, alleges that flight attendant Jean Riegelman berated her and members of her girls' flag football team, DMV Prime Elite, After Price moved to an unused seat to allow her teammates to sit together on a flight from Minneapolis to Baltimore Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport (BWI) on Monday morning. Price claims Riegelman made comments about the group delaying the flight and questioned their seating arrangements.

Price stated that she and her father were subsequently removed from the flight After she asked Riegelman to stop speaking to the group in that manner. She also alleges that Riegelman avoided serving the team during the flight, swapping shifts with another attendant.

Incident Escalates to Assault Charge

After the plane landed, Price's sister attempted to record video of Riegelman during deplaning. Charging documents obtained by WJZ state that Riegelman allegedly attempted to knock the phone out of her sister’s hand, leading to the assault charge.

Riegelman is scheduled to appear in court in September.

Airline Response and Financial Impact

Price said the incident has traumatized her team and that some players are reluctant to fly with Sun Country again. She also incurred $500 in expenses to book another flight after being denied re-entry. Sun Country Airlines has issued a statement addressing the allegations, though details of the statement were not provided in the source material.

Background Information

Sun Country Airlines was acquired by Allegiant Travel Company in May 2026.