Passengers in viral airline videos have same lawyer

DALLAS — The woman seen sobbing in a viral video after an American Airlines flight attendant took away her stroller now has a lawyer — the same attorney representing a man dragged off a United Express flight earlier this month.

The Chicago lawyer, Thomas Demetrio, says the American flight attendant was “out of control” and nearly hit one of the woman’s two young children with the stroller.

An American Airlines spokesman said Monday that the company has been in contact with the woman and refunded her tickets and upgraded her to first class for the rest of her trip to Argentina.

The airline says the woman’s doublewide stroller was tagged to be checked as cargo at the door to the plane, but instead she took it into the cabin, leading to the confrontation with the flight attendant.

The airline spokesman said American is still investigating the incident and has grounded the flight attendant. American said in a statement Friday that the scene captured on video “does not reflect our values or how we care for our customers.”

The president of the union representing American’s flight attendants said the employee deserves credit for staying on the plane after being challenged by a male passenger who sided with the woman. The man threatened the employee that he could “knock you flat.” The flight attendant responded by taunting the passenger to hit him.

“Was it the most perfect response? No,” said Bob Ross, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, who added that some details of the incident are still unclear. But “he flew that flight with that (male) passenger to Dallas. He had every right to get off.”