American Airlines suspends flight attendant accused of hitting mom with stroller.

American Airlines Suspends Flight Attendant Accused of Hitting Mom With Stroller

American Airlines Suspends Flight Attendant Accused of Hitting Mom With Stroller

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April 22 2017 11:22 AM

Video Shows Aggressive Flight Attendant Challenging Passenger to Fight

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The tails of different versions of American Airlines aircraft are seen on the tarmac on November 9, 2016 at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia.

PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

It’s now the turn of American Airlines to deal with a crisis after a viral video shows a flight attendant getting into a heated confrontation with a passenger and challenging him to “hit me.” The passenger came to the defense of a crying woman who had allegedly been hit with her baby’s stroller. American Airlines has suspended the flight attendant while it investigates the incident.

A passenger on the San Francisco-Dallas flight, Surain Adyanthaya, posted a video online of the confrontation with the caption: “OMG. Flight attendant violently took a stroller from a lady with a baby on my flight, hitting her and just missing the baby. Then he tried to fight a passenger who stood up for her.’’

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The video doesn’t show the alleged incident with the stroller but starts when the woman is already crying, holding her baby in her arms and asking for her stroller to be returned. “You can’t use violence with baby,” the passenger can be heard saying as she asks for her stroller back. At one point a male passenger gets up and demands to know the flight attendant’s name.

The flight attendant who was involved in the confrontation later returns to the plane and the same male passenger who had gotten up earlier confronts him directly. “Hey bud,” he said while pointing at him. “You do that to me and I’ll knock you flat.” The flight attendant yells back for him to “stay out of this!” The male passenger quickly gets up and the flight attendant eggs him on: “Hit me,” he says. “Come on, hit me.”

A photo posted to Facebook later claims the women and her kids were involuntarily taken off the plane and the flight attendant was allowed to board. The airline has a different version of events. “After electing to take another flight, we are taking special care of her and her family and upgrading them to first class for the remainder of their international trip,” American Airlines said in a statement.

The airline said it had seen the video and has launched “an investigation to obtain the facts.” The full statement reads:

We have seen the video and have already started an investigation to obtain the facts. What we see on this video does not reflect our values or how we care for our customers. We are deeply sorry for the pain we have caused this passenger and her family and to any other customers affected by the incident. We are making sure all of her family's needs are being met while she is in our care. After electing to take another flight, we are taking special care of her and her family and upgrading them to first class for the remainder of their international trip.
The actions of our team member captured here do not appear to reflect patience or empathy, two values necessary for customer care. In short, we are disappointed by these actions. The American team member has been removed from duty while we immediately investigate this incident.

One passenger who was on the flight told a local Fox affiliate that “the flight attendant wrestled the stroller away from the woman, who was sobbing, holding one baby with the second baby in a car seat on the ground next to her.” The flight attendant was “violent” and allegedly almost hit the baby with the stroller. The passenger says she spoke to the mother about what happened and apparently a flight attendant had told her she could look for space to store her stroller. “She was looking for space when the male attendant tried to take it away from her,” the passenger said.

Another passenger who was on the flight said that when the flight attendant approached the mother to tell her she couldn’t have the stroller on the plane, “She refused to let him take it and she was almost to the point of shouting.” The American Airlines website notes small strollers can be checked in at the gate but it doesn’t say anything about strollers in overhead bins.

Daniel Politi has been contributing to Slate since 2004 and wrote the Today’s Papers column from 2006 to 2009. Follow him on Twitter.