Unthinkable mistake? American Airlines bans lesbian passenger from flying because she claims she had sex with a man while drunk
An American Airlines passenger was scheduled to fly from Albuquerque to New Orleans in June but was not allowed to travel, saying he was placed on the airline’s banned passenger list because of his past behavior.
According to the passenger
- American Airlines told them they had drunken sex with a man on a previous flight
- But that seems highly unlikely because she is a lesbian
@erin_wright_ Thanks for being the worst, @AmericanAirlines #storytime #funnystory #funnyvideos #airlinetiktok #airplanestory #funny #fyp ♬ Original sound – Erin Wright
She says she was unable to check in for her flight to attend her sister’s bachelorette party. She was told she had to email customer service to resolve the issue — so the issue couldn’t be resolved before check-in. She purchased a walk-up ticket on another airline for $1,000 and was out the original $400 for her American ticket.
Eventually, she says, American’s security team revealed the reason for the ban. It was lifted after 12 days and the $400 fine was refunded. She was free of the $1,000 fine, but things turned out well because her TikTok about the incident generated so much revenue after 2.5 million views.
@erin_wright_ Update!!! @American Airlines #storytime #airlinetiktok #airportlife #funnystory #funny ♬ Original sound – Erin Wright
American is unlikely to comment on their side of the story here. Perhaps the passenger was denied entry for other reasons, but they say the ban was lifted and since they were denied travel, the ticket was refunded. What this case illustrates to me is something more general. American has its standards for investigating passenger behavior and deciding whether to ban someone from flying with them in the future. This should be clearly communicated to the customer when it happens, and the airline is certainly not infallible. I have no problem with that.
During the pandemic, passenger accidents rose dramatically even though fewer people were traveling. Masks were mandatory, and some people rebelled against that. Airlines didn’t serve alcohol in economy class, so passengers drank alcohol beforehand – or brought their own. When those two conditions eased, things largely returned to normal, except that the passenger mix included more leisure and fewer business travelers, so there were still more incidents per capita than before.
Airlines banned passengers who misbehaved, but Delta’s CEO wanted to go a step further. He wanted a ban on one airline to mean a ban on all airlines. No judicial review. Each airline had its own standards for putting someone on a ban list. Passengers should be restricted in their right to travel even if an airline had made a mistake.
That was clearly a bad ideaand a misdiagnosis of the problem of increased passenger incidents and the recent past. Remember,
In each case, the damage was limited – and sometimes even reversible. But what if the Delta plan had been implemented? That would have made things much worse, and unfairly so.
(HT: Paul H)
