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

by Gary Leff

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. If I rank 45, 46, and RFKjr on a scale of 1(low) to 10, the sum of their three scores is a single digit. [To provide reference for what follows.] There are those on the left that like to imagine that this is 1930s Germany, and they are among the few brave souls condemning Nazis. Treating MAGA hat wearers as trash = flipping off Hitler. Those bombing abortion clinics imagine themselves as a modern Schindler. It is so much easier to imagine you are pure and others are evil. That seems so much more common today.

    Still, I doubt the events happened as described. She comes off like an incel trying to explain why girls won’t date him.

  5. This just destroys any credibility: “And now everyone on the plane is floored and talking about it.” That isn’t going to happen in first class – nobody else will care, and even if they did, its not going to consume the conversation in first class.

    Then there is this: “she complains that she (quite naturally) won’t ultimately be notified if any actions are taken against the cabin crew member.”

    When one brings management into the conversation, one will NEVER hear of the outcome around the individual being complained about. Thats how the workplace works.

    Much ado about nothing…

  6. I had to look up “FAFO.”. Thanks for that.
    I have to admit to being a little triggered by Trump paraphernalia, but I’ve resisted keying anyone’s car so far.
    Having to wait a few minutes longer to be served your MAGArita seems like a small price to pay for freedom.

  8. @Tim O’Brien

    I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised when people bring up “freedom of speech” when the First Amendment doesn’t apply. When you’re on a plane that’s not owned by the government and the government isn’t telling you what you can or can’t say, it’s not about “freedom of speech.”

  9. So wearing what you want to wear provokes and trolls?
    I’m sure in Gary’s World, this only applies to MAGA/Trump/Republicans.
    Why wear Pride stuff? It provokes and trolls–half the country doesn’t want to see that nonsense just the same as half the country doesn’t want to see a MAGA hat

  10. I remember when inflation was 1.4%, gas was $2.57, groceries were 30% less expensive, ditto for auto insurance, etc, when we had the lowest unemployment for blacks, whites, women, Latinos, and the economy was humming. Not to mention no foreign wars started, first in 71 years, oh and the foreign policy, the Abraham Accords, Rocket man ceased sending rockets over to Japan, Iran was held responsible for sponsoring terrorist groups, no pallets of cash being delivered in the dark of night to fund their nuclear program. No war in the Ukraine, no sloppy exit from Afghanistan leaving behind dead US servicemen and women, 85B of equipment, and airstrip for the Chinese to take over..just the Russia Russia hoax Liar Liar Pantsuit on Fire paid 10M to British ex spy to make up a dirty dossier, that ended up costing taxpayers hundreds of millions to investigate that totally exonerated Trump. Oh did I forget they used federal agencies to spy on his campaign? The list goes on. What a disgrace, cheating at every interval, including the sham lawfare cases that have increased poll numbers for Trump. Looking forward to the end of Obama, the divider in Chief’s third term, everybody knows poor Biden isn’t making the decisions, as he’s led around, with pre arranged media questions, note cards to read from, sad seeing the elder abuse. World leaders in Europe having to lead him around, as he wanders off, shaking hands of people that don’t exist. Won’t be long before we are back to the good old days.
    Make America Great Again.
    Oh I forgot the most secure boarder. Another murder today by an illegal. More and more of that to happen unfortunately. Laken Riley et al. So sad. Fund boarder protection in Ukraine, but leave the southern boarder here in the US wide open. Lots more voters for the dems, why care about the disasters it causes. Even Obama the deporter in chief, didn’t subscribe to it.

  11. @YoYo Pedro.

    I have no problem with people endorsing their favorite sports teams, politicians, rock stars, whoever it may be. To get upset or triggered by someone else’s choice seems completely pointless to me. Who cares if someone like the Celtics or the Yankees, or the Dems or the Republicans. Different opinions, and choices.

    Live and let live.

  13. Call your lawyer. Prove you have been injured by the airline. If so, sue them. If not STFU.

  14. If I had two maga maggot hats, I would crap in one & cover it up with the other one.

  15. Let’s try an experiment, I ‘ll wear my Abortion Pills hat on the next flight and see how they react.

  16. @ Tim O’Brien — Yeah, and then the Orange Idiot handed out trillions of dollars to everyone under the sun through PPP loans and “stimulus” checks with his name on them. Why is anyone surprised that this caused infatlion? You know inflation occirs on a lag, and The Idiot caused all of it. Now, everyone convneniently blames the current president. But, you know, people are stupid. If you think inflation was bad, just wait if The Idiot is re-elected. I predict the worst inflation in US history with no Federal Reserve independednce to reign it in.

  17. I don’t think DT fans are a protected class, so discrimination doesn’t apply in this situation.

Comments are closed.