No, this isn’t a clickbait story about people joining the Mile High Club. Instead, it’s the story of a woman who was (seemingly) falsely accused of offensive behavior during the flight, which led to her being banned from flying with the airline.
American (wrongly?) puts woman on no-fly list
A video is going viral on TikTok about how a 24-year-old woman was put on American Airlines’ no-fly list. She had no idea why she was banned from the Fort Worth-based airline, but later found out it was because she was accused of having sex with a man while drunk during the flight.
That’s quite a story, so let me summarize the details:
- In June, this woman was scheduled to fly to New Orleans (MSY) for her sister’s bachelorette party, and when she tried to check in online, she received an error message
- When she arrived at the airport, she contacted an American employee who also received an error message when checking in. After a phone call, the employee informed the traveler that she had indeed been placed on the airline’s no-fly list, but could not tell her why
- This surprised the woman, as she claimed she had never done anything questionable with the airline and had never been informed of this ban. She asked the agent why the ban was imposed on her and the agent replied that she could not say why, but she “should know why.”
- The American agent told the woman to call customer service, which she did, but she was told she had to contact customer service via email.
- By this time, she had missed her flight, so she booked a separate $1,000 round-trip ticket on another airline in addition to the $400 ticket she had already booked with American Airlines.
- While waiting eight hours at the airport for her connecting flight, she wrote an email to customer service explaining that she did not understand why she was denied the flight.
- Some time later, she received a response from customer service and was told that corporate security would be in touch with her. 12 days after the scheduled flight, corporate security informed her that she had been banned from American Airlines for having sexual relations with a man while under the influence of alcohol during a flight.
- She then responded by email to corporate security, explaining that this was a misunderstanding and that she never did what she was accused of
- Corporate security asked her to file an appeal, detailing why she did not commit the acts she was accused of. She responded humorously, “I don’t know how to prove that I didn’t do it, except by the fact that I am a lesbian in the truest sense of the word.”
- After a few months, there was still no resolution, but then the woman’s mother sent an email to American Airlines’ “legal department” and two days later she received a call from someone telling her that her case had been reviewed and that she was most likely not the one who had been conditionally removed from the no-fly list.
- While American ultimately refunded the woman for her $400 ticket (which she was unable to use due to the ban), the airline refused to refund her the amount she spent to purchase a more expensive ticket on another airline.
You can watch the TikTok for yourself below.
@erin_wright_ Thanks for being the worst, @AmericanAirlines #storytime #funnystory #funnyvideos #airlinetiktok #airplanestory #funny #fyp ♬ Original sound – Erin Wright
Although American still hasn’t compensated this woman, there is one silver lining. The woman made a follow-up video in which she explains that ad revenue from the first video has now exceeded $1,000. That’s a good thing, at least, since the additional cost of buying a new ticket was a drain on her finances.
@erin_wright_ Update!!! @American Airlines #storytime #airlinetiktok #airportlife #funnystory #funny ♬ Original sound – Erin Wright
What exactly went wrong here?
There is no denying that this is a strange story and one has to wonder what exactly happened here that caused this. Here is my take on this situation:
- The woman’s version seems authentic; eventually the problem was resolved and she was removed from the airline’s no-fly list.
- The woman has a fairly common name (Erin Wright), so I wonder if she might have been accidentally confused with someone else. When airlines put someone on the no-fly list, it shouldn’t be based solely on their first or last name, but should take into account additional details like their date of birth.
- If it was indeed a mistake, it clearly shows how many people can fall victim to confusion and how one-sided airline contracts are. She had to buy a ticket that was much more expensive than the one she had originally booked, even though she had done nothing wrong.
- While I support airlines putting people on the no-fly list for inappropriate behavior, it also needs to be done carefully to avoid situations like this. It’s bad enough that the mistake happened in the first place, but what’s even worse is that it took months to get this resolved and for the airline to admit a mistake.
- It is not easy to prove inaction, especially when you do not know exactly when and where you did something. The funny thing about this situation is, of course, that the woman is a lesbian and is accused of having sex with a man on the plane.
I think it’s worth bringing attention to this story because American should do the right thing and pay her compensation for the ticket she had to book with another airline.
Conclusion
American Airlines put a woman on its no-fly list, which she learned the hard way when she tried to check in for a flight. She had no idea why she was banned, and it took quite a while for corporate security to tell her what she had allegedly done—having sex with a man while drunk on the flight.
However, this woman insists that this story is not true, and American eventually listened to her appeal and lifted her ban. To this day, she has not been compensated for the much more expensive ticket she was forced to book due to this apparent mix-up.
What do you think about this story about the American Airlines no-fly list?
