Passengers booted from American Airlines flight after woman allegedly hides under the other's first-class seat
By Michael Bartiromo | Fox News
This is the kind of thing that would have worked in the cartoons.
Two American Airlines passengers were booted from a flight after one allegedly tried sneaking into first class — where she tried to hide under the other’s seat for the duration of the trip.
The story, which was originally shared on FlyerTalk by a fellow passenger, concerns an American Airlines flight scheduled to depart from Dallas to Miami on Oct. 30. The flight was already delayed due to an incident with a catering truck, the witness claims, when a woman from coach came into the first-class section to speak with a friend.
The witness alleges that the woman from coach then attempted to crouch down and hide in the footwell of her friend’s seat, directly underneath the television display.
“Apparently the plan was for this woman's friend to remain there the entire flight as it's something they thought would drive viewers to their ‘YouTube Channel,’” the passenger wrote.
Flight attendants soon noticed an empty seat in coach where the prankster passenger should have been, the witness says. Others in her section allegedly told the crew that the woman had walked into first class.
The crew then made an announcement asking the woman to return to her seat, after which she allegedly emerged from her hiding spot (while the rest of the section was said to be “crucifying” her for causing an additional delay) and tried to return to coach. The captain instead flagged the incident as a security issue, and the plane returned to the gate so the passengers could be removed from the flight.
The witness, however, claims that the woman became insenced upon learning that she was being kicked off, and allegedly removed her mask to start “screaming that she’s being disrespected, did nothing wrong, she paid good money for her ticket, and that she has a child waiting at home for her.”
Eventually, “police show up to drag her off,” according to the witness’ account. “In the meantime another [passenger] in [coach] starts to cuss out a [flight attendant] because of the delay and the police drag him off.”
A representative for American Airlines later confirmed an incident which matches up with the witness’ description, telling Fox News it took place on Friday.
“Before departing on Oct. 30, American Airlines flight 2205 from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to Miami International Airport (MIA) returned to the gate at DFW for an issue involving two passengers,” a spokesperson for American Airlines later confirmed to Fox News. “The two passengers, traveling together, would not comply with seat assignments during taxi out.
“Law enforcement met the aircraft at the gate, the two passengers exited the aircraft and the flight departed shortly after.”
Flight tracking data from that evening further shows that the flight eventually landed at MIA at 1:01 a.m. on Saturday — or 2 hours and 49 minutes late.
American Airlines did not disclose whether the passengers were arrested or banned from further flight with the carrier.
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Originally Posted by FBD
