An American Airlines flight attendant has gone viral on TikTok for sharing the harrowing story of an angry passenger who nearly ran her off the road in anger over the carrier’s alleged performance issues.
“I just had to worry about my life driving home from work,” Elizabeth Braley told viewers in a video posted on Monday, which has racked up nearly 50,000 views.
She described how after a recent flight, a female passenger cut her off multiple times at high speed driving down the highway.
After weaving across multiple lanes of traffic to avoid the aggrieved passenger, Ms Braley said the driver pulled up alongside her.
“My windows were down,” the flight attendant said in a follow-up video. “She saw that I was in uniform and just thought I was a target.”
The driver then proceeding to unleash a stream of insults at the flight attendant.
“She goes, f*** your airline and starts throwing s*** out of her car,” Ms Braley said, adding, “She tries to run me off the road.”
The flight attendant said in the video that she sympathises with passengers upset about delays or cancellations, but added that crewmembers have no control over this, and that delays impact them too because they aren’t paid until the flight doors are closed and a voyage is underway.
“We are so tired too, but like really?” she said. “It’s just like, I just don’t get why people are so cruel sometimes.”
The flight attendant also noted that crew members are upset that flight attendants are working on what they see as an outdated 2019 contract with American. The union representing the flight attendants is holding a strike authorisation vote later this month.
The viral video inspired words of support from fellow flight attendants on American.
“I’m so glad you’re ok,” one commenter wrote under the clip. “I’m also an AA flying sister. I wish the public could understand we don’t control the delays, weather, operations.”
“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” another added. “A passenger cursed me out in the terminal, 100s of flight were canceled that day. He wasn’t even on my flight.”
