American Airlines have suspended an employee and launched an investigation after a video surfaced on social media showing a confrontation between a passenger and a flight attendant aboard one of its flights.
The incident occurred as a recent a flight from San Francisco to Dallas was boarding
The footage of the encounter begins with a woman sobbing as she holds a baby. "Just give me back my stroller please," she pleads tearfully. At this point, a male passenger intervenes and tells the flight attendant, "Hey bud, hey bud. You do that to me, and I'll knock you flat."
The flight attendant then tells this man to stay out of it before goading him to "hit me, hit me ... bring it on."
Surain Adyanthaya, who posted the video
to Facebook on Friday, said that the "Flight attendant violently took a stroller from a lady with her baby on my flight, hitting her and just missing the baby. Then he tried to fight a passenger who stood up for her. AA591 from SFO to DFW"
In a statement that was
released to their website, American Airlines said: "We have seen the video and have already started an investigation to obtain the facts. What we see on this video does not reflect our values or how we care for our customers. We are deeply sorry for the pain we have caused this passenger and her family and to any other customers affected by the incident. We are making sure all of her family's needs are being met while she is in our care. After electing to take another flight, we are taking special care of her and her family and upgrading them to first class for the remainder of their international trip."
It adds: "The actions of our team member captured here do not appear to reflect patience or empathy, two values necessary for customer care. In short, we are disappointed by these actions. The American team member has been removed from duty while we immediately investigate this incident."
This news comes only weeks after United Airlines was widely criticised for their treatment of
David Dao.
Here's the footage from the American Airlines flight.
