A woman was removed from the American Airlines morning flight from New York JFK to London Heathrow this past Saturday after an altercation over her baby’s collapsible stroller. She says that a flight attendant, who objected to the stroller going in the overhead bin above her seat, assaulted her and sent her mother to the hospital.
@AmericanAir @British_Airways I was removed off the AA142 flight departing JFK AT 9:30 am on the 2nd for bringing my babies stroller . The attendant assaulted me and racially attacked me . Born British citizen , and this is how i am treated . No compassion towards women .
— neyma siddiqi (@siddiqui_neyma) September 7, 2023
A passenger who assisted the woman writes that she was carrying her sleeping baby, carry on bag and collapsible stroller. They helped her carry the stroller down the aisle of the aircraft, but a flight attendant told her “very loudly and aggressively” to turn over the stroller to be gate checked. She told the crewmember that it would easily fit in the overhead bin.
The stroller was tagged, though, from a previous flight and seeing this the flight attendant insisted – raising his voice and grabbing her arm. The mother responded “don’t yell and don’t touch me.” Other crewmembers joined in and the original flight attendant “continued to harangue and talk over her…accused us of not listening.” The baby’s mother, and her family, were kicked off of the flight.
American Airlines allows collapsible strollers in their overhead bins, and a gate agent in San Diego once confiscated a similar stroller from me requiring it to be gate checked even though it fit in the bag sizer. According to the passenger this is the stroller in question:
The woman filed a police report over the incident.
Several years ago a video went viral of an American Airlines flight attendant who grabbed a stroller from a passenger, nearly hitting their baby.
The FAs should be fired for cause, first for being wrong about policy and then for escalating a needless confrontation to the point it got physical. Enough of this crap.
She should have filed a battery charge or at least an assault charge if she had an independent witness. I can see that the stroller in the photo seems oversized compared to the 22 x 14 x 9 maximum dimensions in inches (I have a carry-on like the one next to it that is 8 to 9 inches depending on how tight I compress the external luggage compression strap I bought.) Maybe she would have an easier time in the future if she put it in a lightweight and close fitting duffel bag which would also help it survive being checked if needed be.
“American Airlines Reportedly Assaults Passenger”
I mean, after Citizens United, companies are people and all, but I think this is a bit of a stretch! 😀
So the male FA grabbed her arm. In tight confines, and depending on what she did, that may not be assault.
The ‘racially attacked’ part is interesting though. What does that even mean? Anyone who is not white always seems to jump directly to race as a factor. Presumably the FA was white.
The stroller was racially attacked and the woman and her baby were stuffed in the overhead bin.
Oops, wrong story….
If the FA laid hands on her then she should be fired. FAs no matter what they think are not masters of the universe on a plane. They don’t have the to ever be touching people except in a self defense scenario which this wasn’t. That being said if the woman was told to check it at the gate that really is the end of it. Doesn’t matter if FA has policy wrong, you don’t get to cause a scene and argue. Take it up with airline later.
People just don’t seem to know the new rules for flying. Keep your head down and don’t interact with an FA unless they initiate it. Avoid eye contact. Answer with one word answers if possible. Do whatever they say even if it doesn’t make sense. Anything more than that will result in your removal and a useless vague apology from the airline with no repercussions.
We are long past the point where we need an ideological purging of the flight attendant ranks similar to what was done to the German bureaucracy in 1946.
Fire all of them, make them re-apply for their jobs, and make sure every point of training and culture from day 1 emphasizes that you are there to SHUT UP AND POUR THE DRINKS. You are not part of law enforcement. Union negotiating bullshit about being for “safety” stays in the boardroom and does not extend to your self-conception on a plane interacting with passengers. Do not touch anyone. Do not have or express opinions. Don’t like it? We don’t need you, find another job.
On the one hand, flight attendants enforce policy, even if they’re wrong.
On the other, he should not have touched her. Nobody should be touching another adult human being without their consent unless it’s an emergency situation.
I kind of read this situation, though, as most likely two stressed people snapping at each other.
Ron, do *not* compare flight attendants to Nazis. Don’t compare anyone to Nazis unless they are, say, calling for the extinction of the Jewish people.
@Ron Mexico – if it wasnt for unions, FAs would be paid even less, making FAs even more stressed and attracting worse people for the roles overall. Thank goodness we have unions to hep FAs and other staff be paid the compensation they deserve. And flight attendants are there for safety, not just to ur drinks. And Jennifer is right, don’t compare FAs to Nazis.
She should have gate checked it as instructed, or fully collapsed it before boarding. I’ve never seen an FA police overhead storage (if only…) unless something flat-out will not fit and makes it impossible to close it. The FA may have known that overhead space was scarce, and that trying to fit a stroller AND the family’s other belongings wasn’t going to work out. Having a baby doesn’t exempt you from every rule.
I’m suspecting that the flight attendant was looking at overhead space in general, rather than whether that specific item would fit.
But again, he still shouldn’t have grabbed her, they ain’t supposed to do that except in self defense or an emergency.
FAs should be reprimanded for now knowing policy and escalating the issue. They should all receive de-escalation training.
They absolutely should receive de-escalation training. I’ve generally assumed they do.
But receiving de-escalation training and actually doing it right are different things…
Strollers need to go in the belly of the plane. There is little truth in this story other then that. Good for you AA, kick these Loser off!
She should have just checked it as requested. She’s not the only person with items to stow in the overhead bins and one family shouldn’t be monopolizing the entire bin. Selfish and rude of the mother to not think of others and comply with what was asked.
Looking at her Twitter. She likes to complain
Can you imagine if the customer had grabbed the F/A’s arm?
Holy hell would have ensued and flight canceled.
Give me a break.
Wait for the video. I don’t believe this happened as reported.
You don’t get to put a suitcase and a stroller in the overhead, you get one or the other. The FA should have asked which one she wanted to gate check, unless the baby was on a paid/award ticket, and the stroller was the baby’s carry-on. When she doesn’t listen, then you deboard the entire plane, and time-out the crew so nobody flies.
You would think after David Dao, that the training is to not use physical force to enforce rules.
An AA flight attendant yelled at me this week for having too many carry-on items. Yelled that I was not allowed them, and that I was breaking the rules. Said “we’re gonna have to deal with this”. And then when I showed her that one was a CPAP machine that was an exception to the regs, did I get any kind of apology? Ha. Instead, when it was time for beverages, she somehow “forgot” to ask me for anything and just kept on with other passengers. Will I tell AA? Hell no. Like with TSA, if you complain, you get put on the naughty list and your flying life is hell forevermore.
Thank you, oh union job protections.
Sorry, I’d have to see several corroborating videos with sound to even begin to judge what really happened…as presented, just “NOPE!”
Both sides are dirty here. The passenger should have followed the instructions of the FA and gate checked the stroller.
The FA shouldn’t have assaulted the passenger.
The best solution would be for AA to put both the passenger and the FA on a no-fly list and fire the FA on top.
“Assaulted”? We toss that word around like rice at a wedding.
I’ve known people who have been “assaulted.” The way we have redefined the word so that everyone can claim victimhood is an insult to the real victims of assault.
The back story is that she was told by the gate agent that she didn’t have to check it. There was a bag check tag on the stroller but she tried to explain to the FA that it was from a previous flight. Additionally, she isn’t originally from North America. European and Asian carriers tend to be far more relaxed about stroller storage because they dont treat customers like police detainees.