A frequent flier has claimed that he was tossed from an American Airlines flight for "moving a carry-on bag" that belonged to a flight attendant.
Travel blogger JT Genter said that after boarding an American flight from New York City to London Heathrow last Monday as a premium economy passenger, he discovered that there wasn't enough room in the overhead bin for his carry-on.
In a post for AwardWallet, he claims that the space was taken up by two small carry-on suitcases, so he asked nearby passengers if they were the owners. When no one claimed ownership, and noting that there weren't any flight attendants around to flag the situation to, he moved one of the bags to the economy cabin.
However, the crew discovered that the bag wouldn't fit in the economy bin and a premium economy passenger "outed" Mr Genter as the person that moved it.
The situation then rapidly escalated.
The male flight attendant who owned the bag said to Mr Genter: "You moved my suitcase. You touched my suitcase and you moved it."
Mr Genter claimed that "[he then] wagged a finger inches from my face and barked 'you're outta here'”.
The chief flight attendant then told Mr Genter: "You moved another person's bag, which is a crew member's bag, which is not allowed."
An American Airlines supervisor was then summoned, the blogger claimed.
After telling Mr Genter that he would not be removed from the flight, the supervisor was then told that the crew would refuse to fly unless he was tossed, despite the captain's observation that it was an "honest mistake".
Mr Genter claims that he was bumped to the next flight and offered a first-class seat by way of compensation — as long as he didn't recline it. He refused the offer and accepted a premium economy seat instead, though his checked luggage was transported on the original flight.
Mr Genter describes the reaction of the American Airlines crew as "absurd", adding: "Over the more than two million miles I've flown across almost 1,200 logged flights, I've seen and experienced a lot — from rejected takeoffs to medical emergencies and even an emergency landing. However, this [was] the most absurd situation I've ever seen on a flight."
Mr Genter asked American Airlines for a comment before publishing his blog, but the airline declined to make one.
A customer services representative, however, wrote to the traveler and said: "That's never the kind of experience we want you to have when traveling with us.”
The Independent has also requested a comment from American Airlines.
