American Airlines Stroller Incident
Submission 17,158
Overview
American Airlines Stroller Incident refers to a viral video of an American Airlines flight attendant arguing with a passenger over the alleged mistreatment of another passenger and her infant child.
Background
On April 21st, 2017, Facebook user Surain Adyanthaya[1] posted a video (shown below) to Facebook of an altercation between an American Airlines flight attendants and a passenger allegedly incited by the mistreatment of another passenger and her baby.
Adyanthaya captioned the video:
"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."
Within four days, the video has received more than 15,000 reactions, 34,700 shares, and 7.3 million views.
According to other passengers,[2] the incident started when the attendant attempted to remove a stroller from the plane. He allegedly struck the passenger and narrowly missed the baby. In the video, a male passenger stood up and confronted the attendant, leading to the attendant repeatedly saying, "Hit me."
Development
American Airlines Statement
Later that day, American Airlines delivered this statement to NBC News:[3]
"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.
Flight Attendants Union Statement
On April 22nd, Associated Press airline reporter David Koenig tweeted[4] a statement from the Flight Attendant's union on Twitter (shown below).
Online Reaction
The controversy reached Reddit on April 21st, prompting a thread by Redditor ebrake[9] in the /r/Dallas subredddit, which garnered more than 590 points (89% upvoted) and 590 comments. A thread on the subreddit /r/OutOfTheLoop posted by greentable_redtomato[10] received more than 4,500 points (89% upvoted) and 650 comments.
Online, people on Twitter joked about the similarities between the American Airlines controversy and the United Airlines Passenger Removal, which happened only a few weeks prior.
News Media Coverage
Several news media outlets covered the story, including Mashable,[5] NBC,[3] CNN,[6] CBS,[7] The New York Times,[8] and more.
Search Interest
External References
[1] Facebook β Surain Adyanthaya's Post
[2] KTLA5 β Video Shows American Airlines Flight Attendant Telling Passenger βHit Meβ After Taking Stroller From Mother
[3] NBC β American Airlines Investigates Video Showing SFO Altercation Between Flight Attendant, Passengers
[4] Twitter β @airlinewriter's Tweet
[5] Mashable β American Airlines in hot water after flight
[6] CNN β American Airlines investigates after video shows mom in tears
[7] CBS β Witness describes tense incident involving flight attendant and woman with stroller
[8] The New York Times β American Airlines Suspends Flight Attendant After Altercation Over Stroller
[10] Reddit β Why is everyone upset about American Airlines and the stroller video?
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