Whitney Houston refuses to buckle up on Delta flight (video)

Whitney Houston balked at buckling her seat belt after boarding a flight from Atlanta to Detroit Thursday.

The singer-actor went "diva" on the Delta flight crew member when asked to buckle up, according to several media reports that cite a report by TMZ.com.

Whitney 'got diva' on the crew member ... until another crew member came over and warned Houston that if she didn't buckle up, she would have to get off the plane. Whitney eventually allowed one of the crew members to grab the buckle and fasten it for the singer -- and the plane was then cleared for takeoff," reported TMZ.

This isn't the first time a celebrity has had authority issues with an airline crew. Just last month musician and "L Word" actress Leisha Hailey and her girlfriend, musician Camila Grey, were kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight. It wasn't clear whether it was their kissing or the argument that ensued that resulted in their expulsion from the Southwest flight.

In fact, challenging the authority of airline crews - especially Southwest Airlines - happens with some regularity, as this Christian Science Monitor article observes:

Southwest Airlines runs a tight ship. Just ask Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, who was escorted off an Oakland-to-Burbank flight earlier this month because his pants were too saggy. Or Kevin Smith, who was booted from the same flight last year because he was deemed too fat to fly. Or Florida resident Joe Winiecki who in 2007 was told to change his T-shirt, which displayed a sexual double entendre, or be removed from the flight. Or Mesa College student Kyla Ebbert, who earlier that year was lectured by a Southwest customer service rep who thought her outfit too revealing (Ebbert was wearing a denim skirt, a tank top, and a sweater)

Whitney Houston was on her way to Detroit to begin filming the remake of "Sparkle," a 1976 film about a female singing group, in which one member turns to drugs, and another achieves stardom on her own. American Idol 2007 winner Jordin Sparks also stars in the film.

The Detroit Free Press reports that the remake of "Sparkle" "is set in Detroit in the latter half of the 1960s and stars Jordin Sparks, Whitney Houston, Derek Luke, Mike Epps, Tika Sumpter ("Gossip Girl"), Omari Hardwick ("The A-Team") and Carmen Ejogo (from the upcoming "I, Alex Cross," another project that filmed here). Singer and NBC's "The Voice" coach Cee Lo also will appear in the film."