Pro-Trump Activist Claims MAGA Hat Discrimination in American Airlines First Class

Pro-Trump activist and former Libertarian Heather Mullins complained about her treatment flying American Airlines first class, reporting that a flight attendant skipped over her when taking drink orders because of her MAGA hat.

She says that she was eventually served a drink, but was served last. She went to file a complaint when she landed, during the time before her connecting flight. However she reports getting the runaround – that she needed to speak to a supervisor but none would be available for an hour, and that she’d be better off filing her complaint online.

I have four general reactions here,

  1. She flew American Airlines first class. She got a drink. That’s pretty much the product, so I’m not sure on some level what she is complaining about here. Her expectations may have been off.

  2. Cabin crew frequently begin to take orders, or start service, and then stop to take care of something else. When they re-start it’s possible to forget where they’ve left off. This all may have been because of a MAGA hat, or something else.

  3. A perceived rude response from the flight attendant may have been triggered by feeling that the passenger was rude to her in asking about the drink while she was busy. Or it could have been because of the MAGA hat!

  4. While the flight attendant shouldn’t have ‘discriminated against the MAGA passenger,’ to the extent that she paid for her ticket and was allowed to board wearing it, the whole purpose of wearing it was to trigger others. It worked! FAFO.

An American Airlines spokesperson offers,

American Airlines strives to provide a positive and welcoming experience to everyone who travels with us. We are investigating the matter, including reaching out to the customer to learn more about her experience.

Mullins reports that “[s]omeone from [American Airlines]…called, apologized, and said they are putting in the complaint and notifying the inflight management.” However, she complains that she (quite naturally) won’t ultimately be notified if any actions are taken against the cabin crew member.

Recently twice-banned from airlines conservative activist David Harris, Jr. flew with a Joe Biden or Convicted Felon ballot shirt.

They’re bringing politics into a metal tube that’s about to be sealed, trapping everyone – from different backgrounds and beliefs – inside. This can only serve to provoke. In fact, the reason for wearing the hat (and shirt) is to provoke and troll.

Meanwhile, Mullins thinks that instead of having to fly American Airlines, Donald Trump should start an airline seemingly blissfully unaware that there used to the Trump Shuttle, which failed and was taken over by US Airways and is a product since eliminated by American Airlines!

In 1989, Donald Trump tried unsuccessfully to buy American Airlines, ultimately losing money on his attempt, getting caught up in that year’s Friday the 13th stock market mini-crash.

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. Enough with the victim schtick. It’s invariably about someone’s 15 minutes of fame.

  2. How do you know that this woman wore the hat to provoke discord? You cannot infer anything from her wearing the hat other than she supports what Trump is saying. I think you might be showing your personal slant on the fact situation based on your own preferences. I should be able to wear a Biden or Trump hat and get treated with respect either way.

  3. So Maga hat wearing person now claims the super power of being able to read other people’s minds? Wow. Just wow.

  4. ‘First Class on AA’ is an oxymoron .

    The hat was merely an excuse for a snotty FA to be outwardly snotty .

  5. I’m with Gary on this: the woman wore something to piss people off, succeeded (according to her), then complained because she succeeded in her goal? Even by MAGA standards she’s a nutbag.

  6. I believe that her complaint is valid. For whatever reason, TDS is real and that hat really triggers the loonies. I hope that she gets a free ticket out of it.

  7. When you realize what her Twitter page says and see that she has a form of a gofundme directly to her bank account to support herself then you know everything she says is to get her 15 minutes. I normally believe there are two sides to every story. In this case, it’s all about how many more followers she can get.

  8. A lack of decorum comes with a price. I think Trump is an *sshole but I don’t tell everyone I encounter on the street or in a plane that’s the way I feel.

    Maturity is the difference between knowing what you can do and what you should do. People, regardless of who they are or what they wear, who have trouble with that are great examples for ourselves and our children regarding how not to behave.

  9. “Trump should buy a fleet of planes”…ha ha ha ha ha. I needed a good laugh today…thanks Heather!

    That would go bankrupt and out of business faster than his casinos.

  10. I disagree with “the whole purpose of wearing it was to trigger others.”

    People wear plenty of apparel backing brands, sport teams, artists etc, for the simple reason they support them.

    Why would that be any different in relation to their political favorite? I don’t get offended when I see squad T shirts.

    Is it not a simple matter of freedom of speech?

  11. Make A$$holes Go Away! I can’t wait to see how history places these losers and yes, you lost and will lose again.

  12. She must also assist Trump in counting people at his rallies based on what she wrote about being served last on AA. “And now everyone on the plane is floored and talking about it.”

    Yes, I’m sure “everyone” on the plane was talking about it.

  13. Failing to remove lead from water pipes, the air, and elsewhere years ago has doomed us to a country full of people lacking critical mental capacity 🙁

  14. If you wear a MAGA hat, it’s the same as wearing a WHO FARTED hat, who is going to take you seriously?

  15. This this this

    “They’re bringing politics into a metal tube that’s about to be sealed, trapping everyone – from different backgrounds and beliefs – inside. This can only serve to provoke. In fact, the reason for wearing the hat (and shirt) is to provoke and troll.”

    Sums it up perfectly.

  16. Anyone who knows anything about the real Donald Trump knows that an airline is one of the many failed business ventures he has left in his wake. Her tweet about starting an airline is either clueless, or just another con aimed at his clueless base. I’m betting on the latter.

  17. I see that the brainwashed liberals are spewing their stupidity here once again. The letters M-A-G-A stand for Make America Great Again — anyone wearing a MAGA hat is wearing it to announce to all that America needs to be made great again – after 3 1/2+ years of DemocRat rule, making America great again is needed and necessary.

  18. So it’s now okay for AA flight attendants to treat 75 million Americans as “lesser-thans”?
    Just another loser who got a job as a flight attendant.

    AA can’t get the replacements in the air fast enough.

  19. As alluded to in an earlier post by others, the only appropriate use of a MAGA hat in the skies is on a Southwest flight to deter people from sitting next to you, regardless of your own political views ala Larry David lol

  20. @Chris … +1 . If a First Class pax pays the for ticket , the ride ought to be First Class , regardless of the hat .

  21. She wore the hat to be annoying… Why is she surprised. She got her drink and should shut TF up.

    There is no rule saying that we have to serve a certain passenger in any order.

    I will be angry at American if they reward this witch’s stupidity and punish my colleague.

    What happened to “Everyone is so offended and sensitive nowadays?”

    Cry me a river, Karen

  22. @llama
    How may BLM (Burn Loot Murder) pins do you wear on your uniform. More than 5 or less than 5?
    Strikes coming, better brush up on that resume after AA locks you out and doesn’t take you back.

  23. “…and former Libertarian Heather Mullins…” Libertarian “candidate”, which doesn’t necessarily mean she’s a “Libertarian”.

  24. I’ve got news for you Gary (and a lot of the commenter’s). As an airline crew member, I can attest that people have been wearing politically-charged shirts and hats for the entire 20- plus years I have been doing this. Presumably longer.

    And until Trump, the overwhelming majority, nearly all, have been pro-left and especially anti-right.

    Since Trump, there’s a lot from both sides now. And I don’t remember anyone being “triggered” until the term MAGA was coined. It makes people lose their minds.

  25. @ David R. Miller — Yes, there is so much work to be done to put non-whites and women back in their proper places. How dare they have equality and ruin OUR COUNTRY! Idiot.

  26. MAGA = loser, victim mentality. MAGA offers no solutions. They only demonize the vulnerable to make up for their inadequacies.

  27. It seems rather entitled to expect to wear the garb of a politician the system has tried to throw in prison. That not many years ago you could expect to be physically assaulted in blue cities for wearing this, and the attackers not prosecuted. You certainly couldn’t support a jailed public figure on an Aeroflot or Air China flight. Would you see this in Brasil either?

  28. Her gofundme account (see her twitter acct) was low on funds so she was trying anything for a freebee – MAGA hat shows she supports the grift of all grifts so why not try it out for yourself….plus how ignorant can you be if you don’t know orange had a failed airline…..DUH

  29. Said it right here perfectly

    “the whole purpose of wearing it was to trigger others. It worked!”

    I have never worn anything political on an airplane or to an airport but then again I don’t require “thousands of fistbumps” but I suppose I’m not that insecure

    Lol

  30. Well boo-hoo Heather! Advertising you are a lo-IQ raving lunatic was bound to get some pushback sometime!
    Maybe the FA was busy preparing you a glass of warm milk like for the other infants on board.
    You should count yourself fortunate you were not off-loaded as any FA would have felt ‘not comfortable’ having you onboard due to the craziness and irrational unpredictablity of you and your cult members.

  31. I’ve had the displeasure of working flights this cretin was on. She attempted at every possible chance to argue or make something out of nothing. If you don’t know what drink you want we come back to you. It’s not all about her and her hat. We choose to ignore her but now she’s taken it too far. Next stop AA needs to ban her for her ridiculous disruptive behavior

  32. Will be interesting to see how AA handles this.
    PS I miss the shuttle. I wish AA would bring it back.

  33. If we can’t assume that wearing MAGA paraphernalia is intended specifically to trigger people, then you can’t assume the FA was triggered, rather that they had other duties to attend to and made an honest mistake. You don’t get to have your cake and eat it too.

  34. @James N For me, “…and former Libertarian Heather Mullins…” is OK, as it doesn’t suggest she is a libertarian necessarily. It’s like a Democrat isn’t necessarily a democrat. Capital letters matter (if they use them properly). I have a friend who would always say he was a “small l libertarian.”

  35. A white woman wears a MAGA hat and it is only worn to trigger others

    Do you feel the same way about an African American person wearing a Barack Obama T-Shirt?

    Both are political in nature

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