The JetBlue flight, which had been scheduled to depart around 1:40 p.m. Monday, did not take off until about 8 p.m., after delays. During the delay, Mr. D’Amato stood in the aisle and urged other passengers to walk out with him, according to video of the episode.

“We can still speak in this country,” Mr. D’Amato said in the video. “I am making an appeal to all you people. Stand up for what’s right and walk out with me.”

At least one unidentified passenger stood to join him. “I’m going,” he said.

It is not exactly clear what prompted Mr. D’Amato’s response. The crew was trying to move passengers to address a weight imbalance, an airline spokesman said. A passenger, Jeffrey A. Wurst, said that the plane’s captain explained that about 10 people needed to move to the back of the plane from the front to balance how the cargo had been loaded.

“I saw Al D’Amato go to the back, to one of the last rows,” Mr. Wurst said. “People spotted him and asked to take pictures. The captain then asked for more people to move. D’Amato gets up and starts” shouting, he said.

Eventually, the police were called. An officer from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office can be seen walking toward Mr. D’Amato in the video. Mr. D’Amato seems to refer to the issue with the seats, speaking during an announcement that the plane would take off once everyone was seated.