Flight Attendants Left Stunned As American Airlines Gate Agents Humiliate Mom, Force Baby From Car Seat In Bizarre Power Struggle

Dan Eleff witnessed a confrontation on Monday between an American Airlines gate agent and a flight attendant at New York JFK. He was flying from New York to Cleveland on American flight 4366, a regional flight operated by Republic Airways.

The gate agent had forced a woman to gate check her car seat.

The flight attendant noticed it was approved for use on board, and since the flight was half empty, she “stopped it from being gate checked and brought the car seat back to the mother for the infant to use on the flight.”

The FAA recommends for safety that all children have their own seats, and car seats are one way for small children to do this. Of course, requiring it would be more expensive and encourage people to drive rather than fly. That’s not safer. But here, why not?

That’s when the gate agents came onto the plane and saw the car seat – being used – and they “lost their temper, screaming at the mother and the flight attendants.” They had already told the woman it had to be gate checked. Their authority wasn’t going to be undermined.

If we let them do it once, they’re always going to expect it.

They demanded that the woman remove her baby from the car seat so it could be removed from the passenger cabin.

The flight attendants were “shocked and embarrassed.” One of the crewmembers tried to negotiate with the gate agents – could they at least store the car seat in the aircraft, which had plenty of space available, so the woman wouldn’t have to wait on arrival in Cleveland?

These stroller enforcers at New York JFK remind me of Matt in San Diego, the gate agent who demanded I check a stroller because all strollers must be checked even after he challenged me to show him that it fit in the bag sizer.

I wonder whether the agent was the same one who declared they do not care about DOT rules when removing a passenger from a flight and refusing any compensation?

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. There’s no reason anyone in any customer facing role should ever lose their temper. It’s the most uncivilized behavior an employee can express. When the union renegotiated its pay, American should have demanded the stipulation that losing your temper at a customer warrants immediate termination for cause (thereby forfeiting unemployment benefits as well).

  2. Not surprising. There are many fine people on staff at AAL, but there are just as many pigs on the payroll. I traveled two days ago from JFK to Cincinnati to Phoenix to Palm Springs. They failed to load my suitcase in Cincinnati, and so it was delayed 24 hours. They brought it to me about 24 hours later, and I made a claim for interim expenses. The baggage agent rejected my online receipt from Wal-Mart and then demanded to see my private bank records. After I submitted them reluctantly, he rejected that because the charge was “pending.” It seems that I write a complaint to AAL’s CR team and the DOT after every flight with AAL, and the week before flew from Miami to London on United and everything went smoothly as expected. AAL, not so much, also, “as expected.”

  3. Stay away from ULCCs. I’ve avoided AA metal for over 8 years and will drive if they are my only option. The worst customer service attitude I’ve ever seen was a gate agent in CLT. I never say never though. I might try them again after the bankruptcy and the union and management team is wiped out.

  4. Par for the course for AA JFK gate agents. The rest of the AA JFK staff is fine (lounges, check-in counter) but the gate agents are hostile.

  5. After reading the X link, I see now why the gate agents said the mom had to check the car seat. The mom hadn’t bought a second seat. Legit reason and not some rabid gate agent saying the mom couldn’t use a paid for seat.

    That aside, once the flight crew decided to allow the seat, the gate agents should have just dropped the issue. If they were still upset, then run it through management and let them sort it out later. Maybe the crew would have gotten reprimanded for allowing a free seat or more customer focused management would have said it was customer satisfaction profit over monetary profit.

  6. Can the gate agent stand her ground and delay the flight if the flight attendants ignore her request?

    I assume the Captain has the Final Word?

  7. If the Republic Airways captain offered to store the car seat on the flight deck so it would not need to be stored in the passenger cabin, do you think the two AA JFK gate agents would further delay the flight before telling the pilot and the flight crew to f*** off?

  8. I had something similar happen to me at JFK as well. Super bizarre experience — wonder if it’s the same GA. I’d hate to see the same GA do something like this to another solo parent, especially one who doesn’t travel often and knows to hold their ground.

    Solo father traveling with an infant with their own purchased seat on JFK-SFO in business class. Attempted to bring foldable stroller aboard and car seat. Even though stroller fits in the overhead bin, GA force tagged it at the gate. Have flown 6+ different carriers on 20+ sectors domestic and international over the past year, and have never had my stroller force gate checked before.

    I head down the jetway and before stepping on the plane attempt to ask the crew if I can try to bring it aboard. Turns out GA FOLLOWED ME DOWN THE JETWAY to make sure I didn’t bring it on board. It’s super hard to travel as a solo parent and carry the infant, car seat, and carry on, so having a stroller the whole way was pretty important from a “don’t accidentally drop the infant while deplaning” perspective. I told her that and whether we could ask the captain if they’ll allow it onboard. She says that it’s a completely full flight, so they need to make sure there’s room in the overhead, and threatens to throw me off the flight if I don’t comply. I also remind her that the infant gets their own carryon since they have a purchased seat, and we’re traveling in business class.

    Luckily I was at the door of the plane and the FAs saw this happening. One of the FAs told the captain. Captain came out to the jetway and calmly asked the GA if “they could at least try it.” GA grabs the tag and storms off back to the gate.

    Of course, the stroller fits, and there’s plenty of room in the overheads at the end of boarding with a full flight because it’s a low density A321T. What a bizzare power trip — going after a solo parent to save a bit of room in the overhead bins?

  9. A parent already faces many challenges just to get their child on the plane. When an unnecessary confrontation like this occurs, it makes me question if the gate agent understands anything about life in general.

  10. I’m obviously not correct, but after a passenger steps inside the aircraft, wouldn’t any authority the gate agent had end there? The captain generally has the final say on any and everything on the aircraft. Doesn’t an FAs authority extend from the captain? In the case of an aircraft, having too many chiefs and not enough Indians would seem to be a dangerous mix.

  11. Sounds like management needs to have a sit down with all parties involved. Are they (Gate Agents) employees of Republic, American or outside contractors.

  12. Where was the Captain? Why did he/she not stand up for his crew and passengers. Shame on him/her. He is the sole authority for the safe operation oh his/her aircraft.

  13. The gate agent owns the cabin till the door is shut, but the captain can get his management involved and that delays the flight. A delay reflects badly on the gate agent. The agent is AA and the crew republic so each side will blame the other. This may be a pissing contest with no resolution.

  14. American Airlines is the worst. I actively avoid any routes where I would have to book one of their flights.

  15. American would like nothing more than to stop flying those pesky passengers but keep selling points and cards.

  16. 8 of my next 9 domestic flights are booked on Delta even though I’m EXP and live in an AA fortress hub. It has simply become that level of dreadful.

  17. Gate agents are like anyone else these days that has a little power. They will abuse it and power trip to show you how little you are and how powerful they are. It’s disgusting.

  18. Does a gate agent have that much authority over a FA once a passenger is on board? I would think once over the threshold of an aircraft the crew has the final say.

  19. Not all car seats are FAA approved. A lot of times people try to bring car seats that are for cars, but not for airplanes. It’s possible that in this scenario, the car seat was not FAA approved and was tagged by the Gate Agent. In which case, the car seat has to go in cargo. If not, the passenger can potentially claim that their car seat was scanned, at the departure city, but not Re-scanned at the arrival city. In which case the airline would be responsible for replacing that car seat, or the purchase price of that car seat. Also,… Unless you purchase a seat for your car seat/lap child, the airline is under no obligation to provide you a seat for your car seat. If the flight is wide open, And the airline allows you to bring on your car seat/child safety seat, It’s at their own discretion. You aren’t entitled to a seat that you did not pay for. Lap child children are meant to be in the lap of the parent (That’s why it’s free to fly with a lap child ); Unless that parent chooses to purchase a seat; for that child’s car seat, the airline has full authority, on how they choose to fill their seats. There was a situation, not too long ago on a Delta flight, where a family of five, A mom, a dad, an older teen son, a nine-year-old child and a lap child, all booked a flight. The mom and the dad (parents) Allow the older teen son to fly home on an earlier flight. They then proceeded to board their original flight, hours later, and expected their older teen sons seat to be available for them to use for their car seat. It was a five+ hour long flight. And they did not want to hold their lap child the entire time. But they also did not want to purchase a seat for that lap child. They attempted to scam the airline by booking their older teen son a seat with them, And they assumed that seat would still be open for them to use for their lap child and his car seat, knowing that they had sent their son home on an earlier flight. The airline saw in their system, that that seat was Unoccupied, They attempted to fill the seat with a commuting crew member trying to get to work, (Committing Crew members have to their base on their own time, and at their own expense), they rely on seats available. And this family was trying to scam the airline, out of an available seat that they no longer had paid for once their son had taken an earlier flight. And they had the nerve to get upset with the airline, because the airline was trying to put a crew member in that available seat. They were upset that they were going to now have to hold their Lap Child , that again they had not paid for on a 5+ hour flight. Obviously, the family was 100% in the wrong in this situation. But Unfortunately, people don’t take the time to actually research the details about a full situation prior to making a judgment call. And I’m concerned that something similar might have happened in this case. In general, people don’t go out of their way to make things difficult for other people. Yes, there are exceptions, But in my experience This case was most likely blown significantly out of proportion. But I guess if we weren’t there, we’ll never know.

  20. Why anyone would intentionally book a flight with AA is amazing to me. Spirit Airlines, its the passengers who are the cause of most issues, with AA, its the Gate agents (gate agents made me walk away from AA 14 years ago). I would rather take a cuban raft than ever fly AA again and be abused by them .

  21. The reason I quit flying American Airlines a few years back. I was totally screwed by an incompetent AA gate agent. Won’t fly them even if they were free.

  22. I use to work for AA in CLT and as a gate manager the car seat would have been allowed to go onboard as long as there was a seat available. The gate agent was wrong here.

  23. So this mom only bought one seat and claimed the baby as a lap baby, agent said car seat needed to be checked because it doesnt fit in the plane unless used in a seat ( which mom did not pay for ) and then this happened , flight attendants didn’t know the whole story, was okay giving a free seat away. Empty or not, mom knew she chose lap baby vs buying his own seat

  24. Assuming that the car seat was approved, where was the captain in this? He/she has the final word.

  25. Rather than blaming AA or any other airline or business, I think this is more an artifact of modern society. It just seems like we have an awful lot of people who want to push their authority and/or just want to make life miserable for other people.

  26. This is one side of the story- there probably is another. It would be good to do some basic fact checking before posting, eg-

    The OP says this happened on AA4366 flying out of JFK to Cleveland on Monday, Sept 9. I don’t have access to loads, but it should be relatively easy for someone to know if it’s a half-empty flight.

    I can tell it was a Bombardier CRJ-900, a small regional plane. I have been told previously on an uncrowded small airplane flight not to change my seat, because weight distribution is more critical on a small plane- could this be one reason?

    Finally, the OP says the woman and her lap child were offered the opportunity to move up to First Class. I first find that surprising, because of the risk of offending some other paying first class passenger. Also, there’s only 8 first class seats on that flight- a Monday flight out of JFK where half or more of first class is empty? I find that very surprising, but it should be easy to fact check.

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