Video: American employee, passenger have words
Airlines worker accused of hitting woman with stroller
SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT — Less than two weeks after video surfaced of a United Airlines passenger being dragged off a plane, another clash between airline employees and passengers was caught on camera Friday, this time involving a mother who was apparently hit with a stroller after boarding an American Airlines flight at SFO.
The video, uploaded to Facebook by Surain Adyanthaya, also captures a tense confrontation between an airline employee and a male passenger who came to the mother’s aid. In an accompanying post, Adyanthaya said the employee “violently took” a stroller from the mother and hit her with it, narrowly missing an infant in her arms.
The video begins at that point, with the mother sobbing at the front of the plane and pleading for her stroller. A male passenger can be heard in the video saying, “No, I’m not going to sit here and watch this.” He then gets up and demands the name of the employee involved in the incident. After the male passenger returns to his seat, the employee walks back onto the plane and things quickly escalate.
“Hey, bud, you do that to me and I’ll knock you flat,” the male passenger tells the employee, who responds by warning him to stay out of it.
Moments later, the men are shown standing face to face. “Hit me! Come on, bring it on,” the employee can be heard telling the much larger male passenger.
No blows are exchanged and the men are separated, but not before one last heated exchange.
“You don’t even know what the story is,” the employee says. “I don’t care what the story is,” the male passenger replies. “You almost hurt a baby!”
In a statement provided to the Bay Area News Group, American Airlines said the employee has been “removed from duty” while it conducts an investigation into the incident.
“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,” the statement said in part. “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 mother elected to take another flight and had been upgraded to first class for the remainder of her trip, according to the statement. But that appeared to run counter to a second post by Adyanthaya, who said the mother was involuntarily escorted off the plane.
Friday’s incident comes less than two weeks after 69year-old David Dao refused to give up his seat on an overbooked United Airlines flight and was dragged off the plane by airport police. Dao suffered injuries including a broken nose, chipped teeth and a concussion.