American Airlines Pilot Won’t Let Passengers Chant “USA! USA!”

by Gary Leff

People who flew to DC for Wednesday’s electoral ballot counting are flying home. Some people aren’t – they were arrested. Some will be arrested in coming days, as social media sleuths identify them and pass tips along to the FBI. And some of course really did peacefully protest, exercising their first amendment rights. I try not to lump them all together.

But that doesn’t mean I want to fly with them.

Passengers on board American Airlines flight AA1242 from Washington National to Phoenix broke out in chants of “USA! USA!” at the start of the flight. The captain came on to announce a warning: zero tolerance for inflight shenanigans, or he’d be diverting enroute.

The chants were captured by a passenger who finds it ‘un-American’ to object to the onboard demonstration.

There’s nothing wrong with a good old fashioned “USA! USA!” from time to time, for instance when you’re watching Red Dawn (the original 1984 version, natch). However I don’t want to hear it on an airplane. Noise cancelling headsets don’t have anything on this crew.

And since when does a conservative object to,

  • A private business enforcing its rules
  • Law and order…?

I’m not usually sympathetic to airlines pulling alcohol off of planes. American Airlines did that for DC flights on Thursday. The drinks are back.

And not for nothing, but notice how close together the seats are in that cabin, with no seat back entertainment either. For anyone flying out of DC today or on an Oasis-reconfigured aircraft, “thoughts and prayers.”

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

  2. GOOD! American Airline Pilots are the ship captains and what they say goes on their aircraft. The more we stand up to these idiot Trump and facist supporters, the sooner they will crawl back under the rock they came from.

    Civil War is over and you lost!

  3. Well that’s one way to drive 75 million potential customers from your business. If that Captain worked for me he’d be unemployed this afternoon.

  5. FWIW, I bet there’s a pretty good proportion of the 75 million Trump voters who wouldn’t want to have their flight disrupted by a shouting crowd.

  6. I laugh at Congress getting invaded. All these Senators, etc… take themselves way too seriously. The world takes itself way too seriously…

    Too bad some deaths/injury…but the more you know (about death & suffering)…the more you laugh!

  7. @OneXMarine, my God, you have not only provided valiant service to our Country — you are also a beacon of reason in these comments!

    I don’t fly American Airlines but if this Captain is not fired posthaste with a personal reprimand from Doug Parker then the airline deserves to go fucking BANKRUPT!!!!!

    AMERICAN airlines not allowing passengers to shout THE NAME OF THE COUNTRY FOR WHICH THE AIRLINE IS NAMED

    OMFG WTH

  9. This one is easy: unless there’s an in-flight emergency, nobody should be allowed to shout anything on an airplane.

  10. Maybe it’s because when these lunatics chant “USA” it sounds eerily like, “Sieg Heil.”

  14. If you want to chant “USA” go fly White Trash Air, a.k.a. Spirit or Waste People Air, a.k.a. Allegiant.

    I’ll stick with my fellow elites.

  16. American patriotishm has always been rather immature and, frankly, a bit stupid. None of these recent stories are surprising in the least.

  17. @ Nancy – It’s better to be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt. I’ve never been on Spirit Airlines in my life.

  18. Good for him!

    Pilot has every right to run a tight ship. All that chanting is a distraction. And if they are chanting USAUSAUSA, then somebody is next going to want to chant FKUFKUFKU, and before you know it a brawl will break out and we’ll be seeing something like Spirit or RyanAir incidents.

  19. This is America right. We still have freedom of speech right.if this moron doesn’t like it get off of the plane and move to Russia you aren’t the boss of free speech.

  20. I wonder if a plane ever took off from let’s say Detroit and people started chanting “Go Blue?” Or maybe Indianapolis and people were chanting “Boiler Up?” Or LA and it was “Lakers, Lakers, Lakers?”

    Better leave my flag mask at home or I might get booted off the plane.

  21. Bravo the rhe Captain. Imbeciles have hijacked the flag, “patriotism,” and USA chants. It’s anathema now. The pilot should be praised and promoted.

  22. @ sunviking82 – Save your confederate money, the south’s going to rise again! TRUMP2024!

  24. AA sucks, their cabins suck, their FA’s suck, their gate agents suck, so I’m not surprised their pilots suck too. Fly Delta, at least they won’t threaten to divert the flight because their feelings get hurt…

  25. @onexmarine
    Trump will never be able to run again once the next impeachment is done.
    And yes he can be impeached while not in office…guess who has all three positions?? Not you lunatics

  27. the comments from the pro-trump crowd here are funny. I thought conservatives were all about “law and order” and “complying with authority.” “Federal Law requires passengers to comply with all signs and crew member instructions” is literally what they say for every safety briefing. And yet the pro trump crowd gets mad when someone tells them what to do (like shutting the hell up)

  29. @Stuart – I don’t think there’s a need to take it so far…Sure, I agree – most of these people aren’t classy, and in fact quite trashy, but “USA, USA” is still a patriotic cry of a noble country (my opinion as a non-American!), while “Sieg heil” is…well, you know.

    There are enough trashy people on either side of the political divide. I know each side really does think the other side is crazy, hateful, trash etc etc. but I can tell you from a vantage point of a non-American from a far : I can see good people exist on both sides, and some really crappy ones too.

    In any case, this is not my issue, just voicing an opinion. I wish calmer days for our American friends (of all sides!).

  30. @dude26

    I chanted this as a young 11 year old when the USA hockey team beat the Soviets. I changed it at 9/11 when we were unified as a country. But I will never chant it as a mockery to our own democracy. So, yes, it’s all about the meaning…and in this case it was, “Sieg Heil.”

  31. @OneXMarine – You can say you’d fire the captain, but since you’ve worked for other people your who life and always will, it’s pretty tough to know that for sure.

  32. @Jason, please stop breathing our good air~ decent human beings need it!
    And in an overcrowded world you are a waste of space, so move aside.
    You are irrelevant!

  34. You aren’t at a rally. Or in a sports arena.
    You are on a plane. People are trying to work. Relax. Sleep.
    It’s just rude.

  35. No right or freedom is absolute. Americans have the right to bear arms – but not on a plane. American have the right of movement without unreasonable search and seizure. Both of those rights are not absolutely adhered to on planes. Why should this be any different?
    And btw, your Bill of Rights rights only apply as against the government – AA is a private company (despite being significantly funded by taxpayers recently).

  36. Gary, why don’t you switch to writing political blogs…. if not, how about skipping the politics all together. This wasn’t an airline story and you knew it when you posted it.

  37. Every person offended by this are little snowflakes and like to cry about miniscule things. USA USA USA! Don’t cry we’ll get through these horrible words! Back to your safe space little babies

  38. Oh, the irony of a mob that attacked the U.S. seat of government in an attempt to prevent the legal transfer of power chanting USA! USA!

  40. Oh my God!!! Something to get upset about! Finally! It’s been ten minutes since I have been able to feel such righteous indignation and feel like a victim!

  41. Comment section full of people with too much time on their hands. Most people here would run away from standing up for their beliefs like that woman crying about getting tear gassed after breaking into an in session Capitol building. Cheers to the beautiful American dream we all keep dutifully believing in!

  43. @onexmarine you should take your own advice by keeping your mouth shut and thus not proving you’re a fool.

  46. On January 20 we can reclaim the American flag and the chant “USA USA” from these traitorous mob who thought they could overthrow the government. 75 million people voted for Trump for president, not to storm the Capitol or cause an insurrection or to kill a Capitol cop.

  48. Sure the pilot needs to keep it civil on the plane. But it does sound a bit heavy handed. AA allows crew to wear BLM pins but not passengers chanting USA??

    The Sieg Heil comments are comical. If there is one thing this group is against, it’s totalitarian, oppressive government. It’s the last thing they would be chanting. It just goes to show a lot of you have no clue, yet you call them the ignorant, uninformed ones. Look in the mirror.

  49. The irony of “USA” cheers being banned on an “American” flight is funny to me. I wonder how pilots out of places like London deal with soccer hooligan flights. I’m sure those are an adventure.

  50. Passengers should be seen, not heard. Of course the pilot can tell people to STFU.
    Once you’re in a public space, or on the street, in your own home, you can chant however loudly you want. But there is no first amendment right to scream on a plane.

    This is not patriotism. Plenty of people are patriotic without resorting to this sort of rah-rah behavior.

Comments are closed.