Another airplane altercation video has come out, this one about an American Airlines flight attendant. Here is the video and the fellow passenger’s comments about what had gone on.
Surain Adyanthaya said this in the post – “OMG! AA Flight attendant violently took a stroller from a lady with her baby on my flight, hitting her and just missing the baby. Then he tried to fight a passenger who stood up for her. AA591 from SFO to DFW.”
This was American Airlines flight 591 from San Francisco to Dallas Fort-Worth last night. The mother is clearly distraught and apparently the stroller taken by the flight attendant in the video hit the mother and just missed the baby.
American Airlines quickly took control of this situation with a statement that says:
“American Airlines’ comment on Flight 591
10:30 p.m. CT
We have seen the video and have already started an investigation to obtain the facts. What we see on this video does not reflect our values or how we care for our customers. We are deeply sorry for the pain we have caused this passenger and her family and to any other customers affected by the incident. We are making sure all of her family’s needs are being met while she is in our care. After electing to take another flight, we are taking special care of her and her family and upgrading them to first class for the remainder of their international trip.
The actions of our team member captured here do not appear to reflect patience or empathy, two values necessary for customer care. In short, we are disappointed by these actions. The American team member has been removed from duty while we immediately investigate this incident.”
I have to say, as a husband and father, I would be pretty upset if this was my wife and baby. Flight attendants are supposed to be there primarily for our safety, as they always remind us, and according to fellow passengers, it appeared that at the very least, this flight attendant was careless enough to hit the mother with the stroller.
And then we fast forward where he does not look at all upset with what he did and then challenging a passenger (someone who’s safety he is again supposed to be there for) to “go ahead and try it” and “hit me”. That is just ridiculous. American Airlines did the right thing by acting quickly and suspending the flight attendant.
I thought strollers are supposed to be checked in at the gate? That’s what I’ve always done. Are they allowed inside the plane in the overhead cabin?
They are but from what I have heard in this situation, the gate agent may have said she could bring it on board and the FA stopped her at the front of the plane. It would have been then that he would have pulled it away in such a way to hit her with it.
The events leading up to this are not included so who knows how this lady behaved. Perhaps she was being insufferable and rude as many new mothers and airline passengers in general can be. With the rude behavior I see displayed in airports these days, I’m not at all surprised crew blow up every once in a while.
This is very one sided.
I completely understand that we do not know what happened prior but that still makes no excuse for how the FA treated the passenger. If the passenger is making threats, it would then be the FA or captain’s job to de-escalate that and/or call security. Not to make the situation worse by challenging the passenger.