United Airlines managed to create headlines, but for the wrong reasons. Close on the heels the incident of a doctor being forced to deplane, another case concerning unruly behavior from a flight attendant has come to the fore. An American Airlines attendant has been accused of hitting a woman with a Baby Stroller, onboard flight 591.
The incident happened before the flight took off from the San Francisco, at around 2.18 p.m. when the woman - a mother of twins - had just boarded the flight. A video captured the second half of the incident, where a staff member was seen shouting at one of the passengers saying “hit me.” The video of the fight between the passenger and the flight staff member has gone viral.
What did the video show?
In the video, the distraught mother is seen crying profusely with the baby in her hand. She is also heard asking for the stroller. A woman, who was probably entering the flight, was seen confronting the American Airlines employee.
A few moments later, a male passenger is seen leaving his seat of disgust. He gets up to confront the flight attendants. One of the flight attendants is seen consoling the crying woman with water. The man asks for the name of the employee who hit the woman.
The video, which was captured much after the actual incident, shows a man wearing the American Airlines uniform boarding the flight. Both the staff member and the man who stood up to support the woman, get into a verbal fight.
The staff member is seen talking to the male passenger by pointing finger at him and warning him to stay out of it.
The male passenger instead of stepping back is seen moving forward to which the American Airlines staff member says “Hit me. You don’t know what the story is.” The irate passenger responds that he doesn’t even want to know the back story as the baby could have been hurt badly.
One of the crew members is seen taking the staff member away in order to prevent a fight. According to Surain Adyanthaya, who uploaded the video, the woman was deplaned, whereas the flight attendant continued to remain on board the aircraft.
American Airlines’ stance
American Airlines released a statement and said that it was disappointed with the behavior and was looking into the matter seriously.
The airline is determining the cause, which leads to the unfortunate incident. It has also suspended the male attendant from duty. It is not clear whether the airline will offer compensation to the woman.
