Airline learns from United’s mistakes
NEW YORK • Another day, another cellphone video of a conflict on an airplane.
American Airlines said it grounded a flight attendant who got into a verbal confrontation with a passenger on a Friday flight from San Francisco to Dallas-Fort Worth.
Spokeswoman Leslie Scott says the airline is looking into whether the male flight attendant violently took away a stroller from the female passenger just before she boarded a Friday flight from San Francisco to Dallas. He has been removed from duty in the meantime.
The incident comes less than two weeks after video of a man being violently dragged off a United Express flight sparked outrage.
United initially blamed its passenger, Dr. David Dao, before finally apologizing days after the incident, fanning the public’s fury. American seems to have learned from United’s mistakes: it immediately said it was sorry, that it grounded the flight attendant while it investigates, and that it upgraded the passenger involved and her family to first class.
“American doesn’t want to become the next United, but then, United didn’t want to become the next United,” said Henry Harteveldt, travel industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group. “No airline wants to be seen as being anti-consumer or anti-passenger.”
Smartphones and social media is shifting power to consumers who can share customer relations gaffes, making it harder for companies to sweep complaints under the rug. The faster companies own up to mistakes, the quicker they can start to do damage control.
American’s fast reaction could be helpful, said brand consultant Allen Adamson, CEO of Brand-Simple.
“It’s another example of airlines struggling to treat their passengers with the traditional ‘customer is always right’ attitude,” he said. “Good customer service is finding a way to de-escalate a situation and he (the flight attendant) was throwing gasoline on it.”
A video American Airlines passenger Surain Adyanthaya posted on Facebook shows the sobbing woman holding a small child and saying, “You can’t use violence with baby.”
Later, an unidentified male passenger confronts the flight attendant, telling him, “You do that to me and I’ll knock you flat.” The flight attendant responds with, “Hit me. Bring it on.”
Another passenger, Olivia Morgan, told the New York Times the flight attendant nearly hit the baby with the stroller when he jerked it away from the woman. Morgan said when she complained about the woman’s treatment, the flight attendant pointed his finger in her face and yelled, “You stay out of it.”