This is a story about a (fairly) common name, a mistaken identification, and a woman who was forced to fork out over $1,000 for a new airline ticket thanks to a foolish error by American Airlines.
American Airlines Bans Woman For Allegedly Engaging In Coitus With A Man Onboard Aircraft. She Denies It, Claims She’s A Lesbian
Erin Wright has had quite an ordeal with American Airlines over the last few months. This story is about a week old, but I held off on writing about it, wondering how American Airlines could have made such an egregious mistake (if we take her story at face value). I’m now quite confident Wright was telling the truth and am writing about this in hopes that it may contribute toward placing pressure on American Airlines to make it right.
Here’s her story:
- Wright booked a $400 ticket to New Orleans to attend her sister’s bachelorette party
- She was unable to check-in online or at an airport kiosk
- An AA agent at the airport called support and after 10 minutes on the phone, informed Wright that she had been banned and that “she should know why”
- Wright had no idea…but the agent would not tell her what she (purportedly) did
- She called AA customer service and was again told that she was banned and that what she did was a matter of “internal security”
- An email was provided for her to find out what next steps were via customer relations
- She was also told that she would not be refunded for her ticket because she knew she was banned when she bought her ticket
- In the meantime, she booked a same-day round-trip flight to New Orleans for about $1,000
- She wrote customer relations, asking why she was banned
- Customer relations wrote back saying they also could not disclose why she was banned, but that the corporate security department would reach out
- Corporate security finally reached out and said she had been banned for having sexual relations with a man while intoxicated onboard
- Wright responded she’s a 24-hour lesbian who has no interest for men and that AA had the wrong person
- She also claimed that it took 12 days and many emails on her part to finally learn what she had been accused of doing that got her banned
- Corporate security instructed her to file an official appeal via email
- Three months later, she still had not heard back, prompting an email to AA’s legal department and senior directors from her mother’s attorney
- Wright received a call back from corporate security saying that AA now believed it was not her and removed her from the no-fly list
- AA also refused to explain how she might have been wrongly placed on the list in the first place
- Her $400 ticket was refunded, but AA refused to send her more money for the walk-up $1,000 ticket she had to purchase.
Wright is quite an excellent communicator:
“When they called to tell me they were taking me off the no-fly list, they said, ‘I hope this wasn’t too much of an inconvenience’… Oh, you mean the last three months of communication, missing my flight, getting my lawyer involved, and having to email three directors at AA to get customer relations to respond to me?”
Watch on TikTok
And I’m happy for her that her video went viral such that she earned her money back:
Watch on TikTok
But that money does not compensate for the ~$600 AA still owes her (and it should be more for the stress and time wasted) for the new ticket (minus the $400 already paid). It’s shameful that AA would not eagerly agree to cover that. It’s like the criminal justice system in the US where someone is falsely accused, jailed, and convicted and when later exonerated, is simply told, “No hard feelings.”
Being a lesbian does not necessarily mean you cannot engage in drunken congress with a man…but it seems clear she never did and AA owes her more money and the TikTok earnings do not alleviate AA’s duty to make things right.
Dear Erin, if you need help trying to secure this money, do reach out to me.
This sort of incident is exactly why I am against any national no-fly lists.
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This is why no-fly lists should be illegal for the carriers to voluntarily use. This should require a full court investigation and ruling. They are common carriers and due to restricted access at airports, they have no rights as a private company anymore.
Couple this with the fact they stole her money, as in they still took it despite knowing they weren’t going to honor her ticket, that is even more egregious.
@Brandon … I think she ought to file the lawsuit , but if it is a ‘no fly list’ , then that is what it means : ‘No fly’ .
I’m not against the concept of a no-fly, but a no-fly shouldn’t be carrier specific. It also shouldn’t be managed by them. Clearly, as this case proves, they can’t manage it.
This is a case which ought to file a lawsuit .
Somehow she was placed on a list , and the courts ought to demand knowledge of how it happened ?
Not only that, but they let her “buy” a ticket knowing they had no intention of honoring it. There is no way to spin that as anything but theft or fraud. They should have refunded her ticket when she bought it with the acknowledgement that she was banned and could file an appeal if she felt it was incorrect. Not to mention, who did “corporate” security send the ban letter to? I would think the addresses wouldn’t have matched. None of this is right on AA’s part, yet they (like hertz with the rental theft scam) are the only ones not having any consequences from their actions.
Something smells fishy to me
Just curious what a, let’s say, a ’12 hour’ lesbian is versus a ’24 hour’ lesbian is. …. BINGO . . a bisexual !
“It’s like the criminal justice system in the US where someone is falsely accused, jailed, and convicted and when later exonerated, is simply told, ‘No hard feelings.'”
False. The federal government and most states have laws providing for compensation of exonerees. According to a recent study, 42% of exonerees receive compensation, with some receiving millions of dollars. https://mostpolicyinitiative.org/science-note/compensation-for-exonerees/
Less than half. Exactly my point. And you have to fight like crazy and hire an attorney to get anything.