American Airlines Flight Attendant Assaulted After Smacking Passenger’s Phone

An American Airline flight attendant apparently had his luggage spread on a bench at the Charlotte airport, and a passenger asked if he’d move his belongings to make a spot. The passenger says that the man’s partner “started getting on my case.”

She took out the phone to record the flight attendant’s indifference – impolite, perhaps but not illegal – and the crewmember “knocked [the] phone to the ground.” And, the woman says, her husband “did what he did.”

The passenger actually posted video to twitter showing her own husband grabbing the flight attendant by the chest and forcing him down towards the bench – surely evidence of assault.

The passenger reports that after this incident, the flight attendant says he was keeping his distance and spreading out because he was sick with Covid. Which is odd, considering he was in uniform and working. But American Airlines awards attendance points to flight attendants who call out sick, so they’re incentivized to work when unwell and expose themselves to passengers.

How do we even begin to sort who’s wrong here?

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Totally agree with Thumper. Why the heck was she filming him in the first place. Get in my face with a phone and you’ll get wasp spray. Was the flight attendant rude. Yes But the husband was outta control. All of this over a seat…

  2. So the flight attendant was “assaulted” after he committed battery and destroyed personal property?
    I wonder what the story would be if the races were reversed…

  3. Flight attendant f’ed around and found out. You should expect a fight when you knock someone’s phone out of their hand. A man knocking a woman’s phone out of her hand in front of her husband should expect a royal ass whooping! Right or wrong, legal or illegal, that’s what I would expect! I think he felt protected and entitled because of his uniform, even though he admitted that he’s not on duty.

  4. @Rich
    Those two were trying to provoke him and were bullies. Someone, male or female sticking their phone in my face and attempting to bully me might just get their phone slapped out of their hand. I can guarantee you if that guy was bigger and/or not wearing the uniform, they would have left him alone. Those two grifters should be prosecuted.

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