An American Airlines ConciergeKey passenger, one of the carrier’s top customers, shared to social media that they were flying from Portland to Dallas on Tuesday’s flight 2655 and wound up suspected of being a child predator – because they tried to do a good deed, giving up their first class seat for an unaccompanied minor seated in coach.
They were heading to Dallas to connect to a British Airways flight to London. Pre-boarding (since ConciergeKey members board ahead of first class, even), they noticed “a very young unaccompanied minor” and let a flight attendant in first class know they’d be happy to swap their first class seat with the child and sit in coach. This didn’t seem like a big deal.
- A regular frequent flyer may find domestic first class, especially for less than four hours, to be not all that much better than coach.
- Meanwhile, an infrequent flyer might value the extra space and prestige tremendously.
The passenger explained, “I know how hard it is to fly alone at that age and I figured it would make the staff’s job easier with regards to keeping an eye on him” and noted that the flight attendant offered thanks and “said she’d ask.” However,
Once we took off and the seatbelt light clicked off, on her next pass she mentioned she hadn’t heard back from the rear [flight attendant] and she would later; I offered to ask myself if it would save time and she told me to go ahead.
I walked back and asked the [flight attendant] and was taken aback by her response.
Offering the flight attendant at the back of the cabin that they’d switch seats, the response was jarring: ”Why would you want to do that? Do you know him? Why do you want to separate him from his group?”
The passenger thought they were traveling alone (an unaccompanied minor), were offering to switch seats not to sit next to children, and apologized for interrupting her service. She had “a visible look of disgust.”
But it didn’t end there. An American Airlines employee met the flight and flagged down the ConciergeKey first class passenger, asking to speak about the incident. In a hurry to their next flight, the passenger offered to discuss the matter on the way to the airport’s D terminal. Here’s what happened next,
[I]t was an interrogation on whether I felt it was appropriate to try and talk to children on planes and if I had approached this boy at [Portland airport]. I felt very much that I was on the verge of being accused of a crime or being a pervert or some kind.
The [American Airlines] agent asked me if I could stick around for a moment (at this point I was at the escalator for the sky train). I told her no and suggested that unless something was urgent enough that I needed to delay my outbound to London that I would be hopping on the next sky train. As I headed up the steps, she promised someone would be “in touch” to discuss the concerns raised about my conduct.
Now this customer is worried they need to ‘clear their name’. Feeling no good deed goes unpunished, wanting simply to “help someone out who might be having a stressful flight,” (and never even having spoken to the child, according to the passenger) now they’re concerned about some sort of ‘permanent record’ they’ve been tagged with.
Why am I reminded of the movie Airplane! here? (“Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?”)
I don’t think they have anything to worry about. Odds on the matter will be dropped and they’ll never hear about it again. However if it does resurface, they need a lawyer.
Airline and hotel employees are taught to use their prejudices to spot and report human trafficking, and this often works out badly. Flight attendants are told they need to be on the lookout, and you have to sympathize with the position that puts them in. Imagine if they didn’t say something when they could have stopped a bad situation? That would haunt them. So better to raise the accusation or flag innocent people for law enforcement to sort out. And that gives you situations like,
- An African American social service worker was traveling with a white baby and accused of kidnapping by an American Airlines flight attendant as a result.
- Armed Port Authority police boarded an American Airlines plane at New York JFK because a flight attendant saw an Asian American woman follow her Hispanic husband to the lavatory (he was feeling unwell) and saw that they shared an orange juice. The flight attendant called for a sex trafficking investigation. It found their drivers licenses displayed the same home address because they were married, just different races.
- Southwest Airlines demanded to see Facebook posts when a white mother checked in with her mixed-race son, claiming this was ‘federal law’.
This family is on a holiday weekend adventure to support @Kenzie4bs at @usabasketball U18 trials. 💙💛🐻 pic.twitter.com/cbAcRdKyhJ
— Lindsay Gottlieb (@CalCoachG) May 26, 2018
Hotel staff are trained by the Department of Homeland Security to report guests with too many used condoms in the trash, as well as:
- frequent use of the “Do Not Disturb” sign (you’re tired and don’t want to be bothered)
- guests who avert their eyes or don’t make eye contact (you’re tired and don’t want to be bothered)
- people with “lower quality clothing than companions” (no one ever accused me of fashion)
- people who have “suspicious tattoos” (you’re from Austin or Portland)
- having multiple computers, cell phones, and other technology (you’re a blogger)
- “presence of photography equipment” (you’re a blogger)
- refusal of cleaning services for multiple days (you ‘made a green choice’ or assume hotels no longer offer it)
- rooms paid for with cash or a rechargeable credit card (you have to unload your gift card purchases somehow)
- guests with few personal possessions (you refuse to check a bag because you’re a frequent traveler)
See something, say something, when you’re encouraging amateurs to do it, leads to so many false positives that real cases of sex trafficking seem likely to get less attention. Employees think they are ‘trained’ when they’re really using their prejudices.
To commenters “Jfkphl, Lorrena” and others. You obviously did not read the article and went straight to posting nonsense. At no point was the passenger trying to sit next to the girl. , he was simply trying to change seats.
@Gary – You seem to not only assume everything the OP writes is accurate, but also that the FA understood his thought process and intentions.
Put yourself in the FA’s shoes and look at what the OP *actually did* rather than what he intended.
The Main Cabin FA gets a message that some guy in First Class wants to switch seats with a child, whom he doesn’t know, and which will result in that child being separated from their group. Can you imagine how bizarre that request would seem to someone who only has that information as the FA did?
You said it was “rude” not to respond to his offer. Whether he knew it or not the offer was bizarre, and requires no response or explanation. Are the FA’s supposed to explain the child’s traveling companion situation to a complete stranger?
Then, after ignoring the strange request the FA sees the OP coming back into the Main Cabin after take off to push the issue further. It sounds like an episode of Curb that ends with Larry getting maced by a FA.
I do agree with you that there’s nothing to investigate, since nothing actually happened, but that FA must have thought this guy was out of his mind.
I did this several years ago on a Delta flight and Delta gave me 5,000 Skymiles.
This has nothing to do with “wokeness” whatsoever. Legitimate policies to protect children from predators are critical. Unfortunately in this case the flight attendants were just too stupid to understand the offer. Offering to SWITCH seats would not have put the man any closer to the child. Maybe someone should have handed the flight attendants a dictionary and told them to look up the word “switch.”
Their response was ignorant, not woke, and a result of the fact that many of them see themselves as deputized cops due to 1) the increase in unruly passengers 2) their own power trip.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
“they noticed ‘a very young unaccompanied minor’ and let a flight attendant in first class know they’d be happy to swap their first class seat with the child and sit in coach.”
“The passenger thought they were traveling alone (an unaccompanied minor), were offering to switch seats not to sit next to children, and apologized for interrupting her service.”
Since unaccompanied minors are seated prior to any other passengers boarding, the CK saw the lone child since the CK was in the next category to board.
There is no indication other than a purported lone statement from a F/A that there was a “group” of unaccompanied minors.
Am a forex trader. Wherever I am, I normally have with me 2 laptops, and 2 phones. 1 laptop has 32Gb Ram. This is where I store my trading strategy and execute my entry and exit on positions. I never visit any website on this laptop. It’s purely for this. This is to make it safe from online threats. The other laptop, a 4gb ram is use it to extract data online which I then spin it into useful trading information. 1 phone has my broker app, postion sizing margin requirements app etc, my banking apps. The other phone I use it for virtually everything, calls visit any website I want. Now go figure what happens when I come across a flight attendant or hotel employee who don’t know how laptops and phones are important parts of my life.
And the righties always seem to have the dirtiest minds …..I wonder why that is
Oh, @Chad I think you need to take a good, long, hard look in the mirror. Last time I checked there were a lot of non “lefties” running around clutching their pearls wailing about how those pesky people fighting for equality were trying to…gasp…indoctrinate people into some boogie-man infused “woke” ideology that dare suggest America is not perfect and has a history we can all learn from.
There is a reason why people are being asked to keep an eye out for certain behaviors. It’s because children are molested, women (and men) are sex trafficked, people are psychological controlled / terrorized by others and people are sometimes out to do nefarious things.
But, hey, you do you and keep blaming people you disagree with politically for trying to keep the vulnerable safe.
I’ll never have to worry about this kind of situation because when I pay for first, I’m sitting in first and I don’t give a damn who is in coach. But still….it reads to me as though this guy is both clueless and bullheaded. Not sure why a child needs first class but it sounds as though once this guy made up his mind that the child did, he was going to push the idea. It’s unclear whether there was a group of kids in back or whether this child was really alone. It seems the latter as the man observed the child alone. Where was the alleged group during the boarding process? Regardless, the initial FA could have handled communication much more effectively by just telling him there was no need to swap and if he still went back, the second one could have done so as well. This whole story comes across as botched communication from everyone. As to the encounter after he got off the plane, I would have gotten the name of the agent who approached me and called my attorney and had him communicate with AA immediately. Let the lawyers sort it out. If not that, I’d sure be escalating this with AA. He was pretty gutsy to board another flight. AA comes across as so incompetent here that they might have had him hauled off that LHR flight before take-off.
Our country is truly screwed.
I am fearful for the future. Its all ridiculous. Changing seats with a UAM in a different class is not something a predator would do. They aren’t even near them and agents take UAM off the plane.
Chivalry is dead and so are good values.
Whoever mentioned the 460,000, this seems to come from a poorly worded Business Insider article where it reports 460,000 human trafficking victims (in total) were identified between 2012 and 2018, NOT that airline flight attendants identified that many. https://www.businessinsider.com/how-flight-attendants-are-trained-to-spot-human-trafficking-victims-2019-7
I thought only one concierge key passenger was involved. Who are “they”?
Have no clue as to the situation other than Gary’s narrative from the “victim.” Regardless, I do love how Gary manages to turn this around to be about him in the end…the list of suspicious activities and how that relates to bloggers.
It’s not all about you, Master Gary. Don’t worry, no one notices or cares about you on a plane, nor do they me. Good writers don’t insert themselves into the victims plight. It’s cheap and boring.
No Good deed goes unpunished. Next time just tip your Bartenders.
Only in America….
It’s really sad when we think it’s bad to protect a potential victim. Human trafficking is a very real problem. Better to be safe than sorry. A little inconvenience for an innocent person is nothing compared to a lifetime of abuse for a trafficked human.
To paraphrase Bill Burr, “Dude, get that thing away from me!” This is the attitude you need to have these days towards strangers’ kids, or to a slightly lesser extent, people in general. Try not to even look at someone. Of course, that’s also on the list, as is apparently something else I’m guilty of, the Do Not Disturb sign. Sorry, don’t care for strangers being around my unattended stuff, plus I feel like most stays are a week tops. I personally am not cleaning the bathroom or changing the sheets more than once a week at home, why do I need it daily when out of town? The world makes me sad and generally afraid to spend too much unnecessary time out there, unless it’s like “the outdoors”, which I’m sure is on someone’s watch-out list too…
Wow. I thought the FA was bad enough but the comments are even lower class. Gary was not inserting just himself or making it all about him but, rather, providing examples as to how these circumstantial examples can be applied elsewhere. Not everyone is a pedo. And for the woke BS … yawn. So so tired of some lame commentor having to inject their “asleep at the wheel” political bias into EVERY. GODDAMN. STORY. Ugggh. Offering his seat to a child was an incredibly kind & generous gesture. I applaud him and hope he isn’t burned by this unfortunate experience. The Art of gifting is not lost after all. Even amongst the greedy, red-faced haters.
I once went to a book store to buy my little nice a children’s book, then some Karen saw me in the children’s books section, which by the way I was the only one there, so she called a staff member and tried to sic them on me like a dog, telling the staff member that I shouldn’t be in the kid’s section, because I was an adult male without a child, the staff member actually stood up for me and the Karen left fuming, I bought my niece a book and everyone lived happily ever after.
happened to me on an AAL flight. Was seated next to a young lady who saw I was reading French and wished to talk about Victor Hugo. Later, she asked me for my address so we could I suppose become pen pals but a stewardess saw me writing down my name and address and accused me loudly of interfering with the girl. I had been drinking during the flight so didn’t protest for fear of also being accused as a drunken child groomer. I hate people.
I’ve learned of several incidents that have gotten out of hand on airplanes. From demanding, angry passengers who are ready to beat up attendants to annoying kids putting gum in your hair and having 2 hour temper tantrums, and everything else in between. Ik I would be outraged if they judged me and threw around accusations insinuating I’m a kidnapper, a human trafficker and everything else under the sun. It wouldn’t be nice.
So was the kids a UAM or not? It is usually overwhelming obvious because the UAM will be escorted and with paperwork. Certainly noticable to a seasoned flyer. And typically if I were to do this, is just talk to the GA or the escort BEFORE boarding. I’d never talk to the FA. Something seems off by this story. I guess there are some top FF who are just clueless
I swear to Christ! This is getting impossible.
Once, at a local fast food place, I saw a teenage girl wearing a very pretty dress, and I complimented on her on it. Her Karen of a mother, however, snapped at me “She’s 14! I don’t need you getting weird with her.”
And another time, I was with a woman whom I know, and I saw another woman walking by. I said, “she’s pretty; isn’t she?” And she replied “I don’t know. I’m not a pervert.” I looked at her and added, “All that I said was that she was pretty! It’s normal for men to like women.” And she retorted, “yes, but it’s not normal for men to be perverted.”
Jeez, is it any wonder that we haven’t won a war since 1945?
Yes they did right. The man is weird for that because the child was traveling with a group. Imagine you sent your child unaccompanied to fly and a random wants to change things up.. the flight attendant better fiercely protect and defend . No telling what his intentions was as predators tend to use kindness to groom and coerce. Not saying he is but this is os something that we all should be aware of and leave kids alone . Your “kindness” can be seen as something else when measures and policies put in place to protect these kids are being ignored. I’ve seen a flight attention tell a child to use a code “she whispered it” if anyone makes them uncomfortable. I minded my business and the crew was checking in and passing by every 5 or so minutes to check on that boy. It’s a system that works when you have a good crew and I applaud it
Guess it does no good to be nice, or right away your considered a predator or your racist.
What a crock!!
Would this have been an issue if a woman offered to exchange seats? Highly unlikely. We continually speak of change, equality and open mindedness but rarely do those views of men seem to change. It seems like a case of sexism. If he (the child) was with other children as someone mentioned, then the initial FO simply could have said that. And if she wasn’t aware then how could he (traveler) possibly be? These are the type of things that keep people from doing everyday simple kind acts.
I posted earlier that our country is in so much trouble. I do want to comment that most of us were talking about this issue and some had to interject tribal politics. This is why we are screwed. We can’t even have a discussion about a single incident without someone brining up BS tribal politics and talking about right wingers etc.
This has to do with the incident and common sense. If it’s as Gary states this was ridiculous and passenger was harrassed by a FA who assumed things and didn’t handle it well. The fact that we are so divided in this country is so sad. We used to be able to talk about any political issue and debtae civilly. Agree to disagree and try to find common ground. Now it’s instant hate, blame , anger, refusal to talk civilly and all out war. Country is so screwed. I really do think our great American experiment is coming to its end. We are so much in decline when we don’t need to be. Energy should go to being the country of values and democracy we have always been. Not to this tribal political s..t hole we have become.
This had nothing to do with politics. It was an FA who mishandled the whole situation.
Passenger tried to do good and was penalized for it.
And yes regardless of which side you are on things have gotten so out of hand. We need to be the country of values we have always been. Not what we have dinished into these past 10 years
The rear FA has some serious baggage to unpack in therapy. Sounds like a real hater on a mission.
When I was younger, if I saw an opportunity to create a net positive at minor cost to myself, I’d pursue it to a degree that came off as weird. A lot of people labeled this as autism-spectrum behavior but regardless, I now try to let it go because it’s a lose-lose. As the article points out, hypervigilance leaves massive room for bias. Even if you avoid the racial profiling, requiring “normal” human behavior is totally subjective and stigmatizes any non-conformity. We already can’t be suspiciously unfriendly or we’re possible terrorists; now we also can’t be suspiciously friendly or we’re trying to lure someone.
The man had no idea the kid was traveling with a group as the group normally boards together. He would have had zero contact with the kid. Anyone who feels this was inappropriate or anything short of a really nice gesture to provide a kid with a more positive flying experience should go back to your daily life as Karen and stay in a closed, dark room.
Wasn’t the AA passenger advised to not try to up attention to this situation? But it seems to have gone in the opposite direction as the info on here and on FT make the passenger identifiable to more.
“It’s really sad when we think it’s bad to protect a potential victim. Human trafficking is a very real problem. Better to be safe than sorry.“
Do you also justify firing bullets at “suspects” because someone imagines there could be a crime committed in the future by the “suspect”? Better safe than sorry, still?
The “better to be safe than sorry” mentality underestimates the long-term damage done to individuals and society by the paranoia and prejudice-driven false accusations/assumptions that are unleashed in the name of security/safety. What improves security and safety is social cohesion where empathy/fellow-feeling is high, but fear and feelings of ostracization/alienation are low. While I’m a believer in reminding kids of stranger-danger, kids are generally far more at risk of abuse by: 1) trusted” “non-strangers” who see them daily or routinely over a longer period of time; or 2) others — could even be other kids (traveling as UAMs or not) — when the child feels isolated and uncared for.
Offering to FAs to swap seats with a child does not put the seat-swapping child at increased chance of abuse.
Well said
Better to be safe than sorry is BS.
Excellent analogy.
Grown folk have no business approaching children unknown to them period. End of story.
> It’s really sad when we think it’s bad to protect a potential victim. Human trafficking is a very real problem. Better to be safe than sorry. A little inconvenience for an innocent person is nothing compared to a lifetime of abuse for a trafficked human.
We should all know where the road paved with good intentions leads. This is an example of that road. Applying a drop of common sense to this shows that his actions in no way provide an opportunity for a predator.
@Liz: Hey Liz, or should I call you Karen?
Facts matter, Sweetie.
The CK never approached the child. NEVER.
So get over yourself. And ensure you keep your kids locked in their room so they will be safe.
People . . .
> Grown folk have no business approaching children unknown to them period. End of story.
Grown folk have no business commenting on situations they don’t understand, period. At no point did he approach the child, nor would his actions have lead to approaching the child.
Sorry but y’all r stoopid. This hack journalist* takes directives that are part of a PACKAGE of security precautions air and hotel employees are instructed about which DETAIL what human trafficking and predator behavior is when those of that type are actually ENGAGED in doing that behavior. These tips are not things everyone would know like that pimps/traffickers and the unfortunates hawking the pimps/traffickers foul goods use multiple cell phones, pay with cash, and look funny because part of the group is always wearing street clothes and parts are always wearing expensive top shelf garments. This author does his very best to play dumb about CONTEXT and presents all kinds of illogical logic posturing that these guidelines are somehow stupid or extra. Yeah, that’s helpful. If that wasn’t enough he then mashes air specific personnel tips against hotel specific personnel tips presenting them wherever in whatever context like some drunk carnival barker who never finished elementary school. Finally, the comments section explodes with an army of you who also want to malignantly take facts OUT OF CONTEXT too, yay! We are a soup of stupid.
This is just f…ing ridiculous. Lazy law enforcement trying to turn everyday people into rats, and this is what creates the immense numbers of Karen’s in this cuntry. People who think that because the government told them it was OK to be a rat, it’s OK to stick their busy body noses into everyone’s business while ignoring their own shortcomings.
Meanwhile, any lawyer Wirth a dam will tell you, NEVER talk to police. And I’m telling you, don’t be a pinchy rata!!! Mind your own dam business!!
How many CKs were there who made this offer? ‘They’ is referenced multiple times.
Seriously all these flight attendant issues … maybe they’ll require an education and pay them accordingly. Instead they hire skinny ninnies, issue them a uni, and tell them they have power.
Our last flight we were confronted with a psycho gate attendant. He walked off when I started recording HIM.
Literally on a plane, you actually need a body cam now.
Wow. This poor guy was being a gentleman and everyone thinks he’s a perv. I’d sue that airline. Wow wow wow.
Great analogy GU Wonder!
This comment section is full of middle aged predatory men. Thank you for showing who you are. And tho the author of this post, thank you as well. You just outed yourself and your following as pedophiles.
Sorry not sorry. Boo boo. A presumably upper class man has to endure a touch of inconvenience and a smudge of humiliation so the airline can make sure he’s not a predator. Too bad. I’d rather have a million of these guys inconvenienced and embarrassed if it saves one child from being sexually assaulted and/or trafficked. Especially since, like it or not, guys like this usually are the bad guy. Good for the airline for investigating and make sure that the kid was not being targeted.
It’s a poorly written article. Immediately, it’s about one CK offering up his seat but in the same sentence it reads “they” are traveling to a connecting flight. Who’s the other person? Was he or she giving up their seat, too? I don’t recall that being spelled out. But I do believe there’s an over abundance of caution and that’s a sad reflection of society today, where only a suggestion of an act of kindness is suspected of being something nefarious. The FA at the back could have handled it so much more professionally by simply thanking the gentleman for his offer, and then saying something to the effect that by federal rules, this unaccompanied child must remain where they were originally assigned, which might be their policy. And left it at that. She had no reason to report the CK to authorities who’ll only make his life miserable for attempting to do a good deed. Reporting him is when the FA injected her feelings and prejudices over facts.
If you are given a hammer, everything will look like a nail.
I’d file a complaint bc how is this predatory behavior? First class board first followed by unaccompanied minors and obviously he saw a sad kid. He didn’t ask to sit next to the kid. He was being nice and felt bad for the child so offered to swap seats. First class services are wayyy better than coach PLUS the kid would be closer to the bathroom. Anyone who suggests he is a sicko are the ones who are the sick in the mind and probably have done some sick stuff to people. Shame on the airline!
Today in GAAry Gripes About American.. do you ever write anything positive? It must be exhausting being so damn negative all the time. Challenge yourself to write something positive and NOT spin it into some negative story. Or maybe step away from the low hanging fruit of groaning about AA and write something different.
> This comment section is full of middle aged predatory men. Thank you for showing who you are. And tho the author of this post, thank you as well. You just outed yourself and your following as pedophiles.
Do you really think there are that many pedos around? Isn’t it more likely that your perception is wrong? We see no way a pedo could have benefited from the situation, just anti-pedo witch hunting. Besides, most pedo problems are from people already known to the family, not strangers.