It was only when Erin Wright tried to check in for her last flight with American Airlines that she learned that she had been banned from flying.
The TikToker had initially tried to check in on her phone after a two-hour drive to Albuquerque Airport to catch a flight for her sister’s bachelorette party, but received an error message instead. Since this had “never happened before,” Wright assumed it was just a glitch and went to a kiosk instead. After entering her information, she was met with another error message that she had also “never seen before.”
“At that point, I didn’t think much of it, because why would I ever think I was banned from flying?” Wright said The lawyer.
The content creator then went to the airline counter to ask for help. The staff “didn’t seem concerned at all” as she explained the situation and then called to resolve the issue. Wright waited while they “talked on the phone for a while and then hung up.”
“They were so uncomfortable. They said, ‘We can’t actually check you in. You’ve been permanently banned,'” she said. “Of course, I really don’t know why. I’m very confused and I’m starting to cry.”
Shocked, Wright asked why she had been banned, but staff would not reveal what. She said they instead told her, “You should know why,” which she thought was “the craziest thing to say.” Wright asked again why, and staff still refused, although Wright could tell they “felt really bad.”
Wright then called customer service, who also did not disclose the reason for her ban. She also emailed customer service, but in the meantime had no choice but to book a $1,000 flight on another airline so she could still make it to her sister’s party.
Wright concluded that she was probably not on the federal government’s no-fly list when she was able to book her other flight, but was still not entirely sure if she would be allowed to board the plane, although she still didn’t know why. Luckily, she made it to her gate while trying to reach American Airlines customer service.
“I was really nervous when I booked my other flight because I didn’t know if I would actually be banned from flying on all airlines,” Wright continued. “And since I was able to book on American Airlines even though the ban was lifted, I might be able to book on another airline and not be able to use that one either. So my panic about whether I would be able to make it to my sister’s bachelorette party didn’t go away until I got through TSA.”
Wright said she eventually received an initial response via email, but American Airlines stopped correspondence after that, despite her sending three more messages. She continued to try to reach the airline and appeal the ban, even retracting “the emails of the directors of three different divisions of American Airlines.”
“My mom also had her lawyer send a letter to the legal department, and that was the only time I actually heard from them,” Wright said. “I’m pretty sure if I hadn’t pushed harder, they would have just continued to be non-responsive, which is pretty crazy.”
It was only through the response to her lawyer’s request that Wright learned the reason for her flight ban: the lesbian was accused of having had sexual relations with a man during a flight.
“It was kind of funny when I got the email with the reason, because at that point it was just so ridiculous,” Wright said. “It’s obviously not me. I’m kind of glad that was the reason, because it was so clear it wasn’t me.”
Wright suspected she had been mistaken for another passenger, which she told the airline. Although her alibi was absolutely solid, she said she was “nervous at the same time” because “how do you prove you’re a lesbian?”
Wright eventually got her original $400 American Airlines ticket refunded and was removed from the no-fly list after a phone call with corporate security, who determined that she was “conscientious enough in my communications and honest enough in what I said to at least remove me from the no-fly list until they figure out what happened.” There is no guarantee, however, that she won’t be put back on.
“They said, ‘We’re going to ban you, but we haven’t figured out what happened yet, so if we come to the conclusion that it was you, we can still reverse the decision and put the ban back on you,'” Wright explained. “But I haven’t heard from them since.”
The lawyer has asked American Airlines for comment but has not received a response.
It’s still unclear what incident, if any, led to Wright’s suspension. If it really was a case of mix-up, the TikToker is confident that “they’re not going to find out it was me.” Although she’s “not really nervous,” Wright said she wishes she knew “what actually happened.” If another couple did indeed have intercourse on a flight, American Airlines “cannot continue to communicate with (Wright) about what happened because it’s now a matter of confidentiality on the part of whoever actually did it.”
For Wright, the whole ordeal has several “disturbing” implications.
“It’s a little disturbing that they can’t properly identify the passengers on the plane,” she said. “It’s disturbing how they’re handling their no-fly list. … There should be a more streamlined process.”
Wright now intends to “file a complaint with the Department of Transportation just because (American Airlines) has been so unresponsive.” She is “not really worried about money” since she recouped the funds for her second flight through TikTok revenue, but she believes the company “since it’s a huge corporation, it should still take responsibility for it.”
“I really want American Airlines to take responsibility for this. They haven’t even sent an email apologizing for the tremendous inconvenience,” Wright said. “I hope the Department of Transportation will look into this and look at what I went through and maybe demand a change in the way they handle their permanent suspensions.”
