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sloguy02246 -> United Airlines, move over. It's American Airlines' turn. (4/23/2017 8:12:13 AM)
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From today's Chicago Tribune:
NEW YORK - American Airlines said it has grounded a flight attendant who got into a verbal confrontation with a passenger after taking a baby stroller away from another passenger on a Friday flight from San Francisco to Dallas-Fort Worth.
A video taken by a passenger and posted on Facebook shows the sobbing woman holding a child and saying, "You can't use violence with a baby."
Later, an unidentified male passenger confronts the flight attendant , telling him, "You do that to me and I'll knock you flat."
The flight attendant responds with, "Hit me. Bring it on."
The incident comes less than two weeks after video of a man being dragged off of a United Express flight from Chicago to Louisville sparked outrage.
United initially blamed its passenger, Dr. David Dao, before apologizing days after the incident, fanning the public's fury.
American, by contrast, immediately said it was sorry, that it had grounded the flight attendant while it investigates the incident, and that it had upgraded the passenger involved and her family to first class.
Travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt said, "American doesn't want to become the next United, but then, United didn't want to become the next United."
A union that represents American Airlines flight attendants said in a statement that not all the facts are known about the incident so there shouldn't be a rush to judgment.
Smartphone cameras and social media are shifting power to consumers who can share customer relations gaffes with the world.
Whatever the "facts" turn out to be, verbally strong-arming a woman with a baby is always going to be a no-win situation.
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