Incidents on flights have been on the rise lately. Even with FAA crackdowns in the form of fines and jail time, things haven’t seemed to calm down. While a passenger being unruly on a flight is usually more than enough of a reason to remove them, some passengers are being removed for no good reason. As the Independent reported, one family found out that even doing nothing will get you removed from a flight.
It all started when a man named Allan Ali, his partner Kamia Hoilett and their newborn baby were boarding a flight to head home to Philadelphia from North Carolina. As other passengers were boarding, one man was attempting to take his seat near them. Like anyone would do, Hoilett stood to make room for the man to get by. That’s when the man became aggressive. From The Grio:
The Shade Room interviewed Ali, who said the incident escalated when he and his infant-holding partner stood to let a man who was sitting in their row into his seat. Ali said the man aggressively spoke to them, saying, “Y’all have to get up.”
Despite the man’s unnecessary aggressiveness, the couple obliged and got up so the man could get by. Out of nowhere, a flight attendant appeared at the end of the row and blocked them. Holiett asked for the attendant to move when she replied, “Is there going to be a problem?” From the Independent:
The woman was asked to sit down by the flight attendant, who told her to buckle her seatbelt in a “passive-aggressive tone”, she said, following which the conversation heated up.
After telling the attendant she didn’t appreciate being spoken to like that, the attendant ran off and made a report to the captain. Whatever she said must have sounded much worse than what actually transpired; not long after, the family was being told that they were being removed from the flight. They were eventually put on another flight to be taken home.
While American Airlines says it’s investigating the incident, it hasn’t stopped the couple from pursuing legal action. They say they were treated unfairly. Allan Ali said that “today could’ve been avoided with a little human decency and compassion.”