A man stole a bulkhead seat on American Airlines, claiming that he was entitled to the seat because of his US citizenship and daring flight attendants to have him arrested for refusing to move.
Man Steals Bulkhead Seat on American Airlines, Refuses To Give It Up, Then Fights Removal From Flight
I’m not sure who created the video (it is very well done) or the date of the flight, but we see the scene unfolding on American Airlines flight from Dallas (DFW) to Los Angeles (LAX).
A passenger, let’s call him Kevin, decided he wanted to claim the bulkhead seat for himself, even though he was assigned a seat further back in the aircraft.
So he took it.
When the passenger actually assigned to the seat (in the checkered shirt if you watch the video below) showed up, he refused to move.
Instead, he got angry, claiming among other things that he was entitled to the seat because, “I’m a citizen of the United States.”
A flight attendant told him that he was being rude and he would be kicked off the flight and he responded, “Ok. Get the police here. Take me to jail.”
And the police did show up and remove him on a wheelchair (beats dragging him off, I suppose)…though the video suggests that he was NOT even arrested.
We’ve asked American Airlines for clarification on this.
You’ve got to watch this:
Man Steals Better Seat, RAGES REFUSES To Leave JFK Airport Fasten Your Seatbelt
byu/CascadingPhailure inAirRage
Based on the video, do you think the man was high on something or perhaps mentally handicapped? I doubt it. It seems to me he was just entitled, which is why I have no qualms about sharing this.
But seriously, did he think that would end any differently? Did he think that by raising his voice and making threats the flight attendants would just say, “Sure, sir. You can keep the stolen seat. We are sorry to disturb you and will move this ruffian who was actually assigned this prime bulkhead seat to a middle seat in the rear of the plane?”
It is folks like this who should be banned from all carriers (I would be shocked if he is not already banned from American Airlines). Someone so unhinged and irrational is a threat to everyone onboard. Imagine if he had turned violent. This ultimately turned out all right because the other passengers remained so calm.
Kudos to them and the crew for handling this well…
image: @cascadingphailue / reddit
Hello Matt. I coined a phrase (I should register it): The greasiest wheel squeaks the loudest. My mechanic told me that brake pads are designed to make a squeaking noise in order to alert drivers to get them replaced and then people ignore them and disaster.
Anyhoo, I say this because we may have reporting bias going on: The internet and access to so much news means these stories get reported more often.
The man’s behavior sounds like he had some type of (perhaps transient) mental issue. For FA’s in service industries and their primary duty, as we’re often reminded is: “they’re here for passenger safety”, they should be trained in how to handle these situations and de-escalate them as much as possible and remediate with minimal fuss. To a certain degree, I think that’s the case: When I get on the plane I always say (in the native language) “good day” and instruct my daughter to do the same (the little barbarian doesn’t, but the FA’s smile knowing I made the effort). They’re on the lookout for those who are help, or liabilities, during the flight.
Planes are wonderful things, but they are also high pressure environments for many people: They’re confined to a space in a technological wonder engaging in flight that is inconceivable to most people 2 centuries ago. We, here, take it for granted on how to civilly behave because of our, and I say this in a good way, privileged upbringing. We had the support and background to fret about whether we should ask before reclining our seat.
I would guess that a lifetime ban isn’t necessary. He has suffered the consequence for his actions and, I would guess statistically, will learn the proper lesson.
As a psychiatrist, I suspect this is a chronically mentally ill person. If I’m right, this could well have escalated to assault.
A lifetime ban seems appropriate to me unless his treating provider will provide a written opinion he is not a risk. Good luck on that though.
If there was no arrest he may be known to local law enforcement and they know the courts would not take any further action.
In the industry, this is simply referred to as ‘Toxic A**-holery Syndrome’ with an underlying layer of ‘Delusional American Entitlement’ … There’s no place for it, except maybe a padded cell on an island in the Arctic.
Three good people who were unwilling to have their flight screwed up should have stepped up and dragged the Kevin off the plane, Problem solved, no need for the police or for everyone to deplane.
How could someone steal a seat out of an airplane and get away ? Did he bring tools ?
Funny….
How could someone steal a seat from an aircraft without tools ?
And then Karen was carried off by police.
What I find interesting is that in the many millions of miles which I’ve flown, the number of incidents on board planes that involved notable unnecessary drama from passengers has been pretty negligible and thus memorable when seeing/hearing such drama.
Most of what little such drama I’ve seen on the planes has been post-9/11 and has seemed to say more about the routes and airlines and the crew and passenger mix doing the flights than anything else.
I was flying a fair amount also when airline transitioned from having smoking sections to banning smoking, and even that didn’t involve so much dram although there were some incidents then and thereafter.
The overwhelming majority of passengers today are still very well behaved on my flights.
next time pleasevcall him matthew, not kevin
Sure Kev.
Its discouraging how Airlines look the other way with these people. Charge him with disobeying Crew instructions and danger to pax and Crew. Start holding pax accountable for their actions. Pay the Crew to attend court and give testimony and let Judge decide how to punish, with minimum fee for delayed of flight and missed connections etc. Airline Management are to blame to allowing this behaviour to continue. Crew are allowed a few options but its always safety 1st, regardless of the opinion of others. Someone should sue this man for the cost of their ticket.
But, is that the case? AA could have wanted the book thrown against this guy. But, they don’t make that call. The police decide if they arrest him, and the DA decides if charges are filed. And, the fact he wasn’t arrested doesn’t mean he won’t be charged later. Let’s hope he is, either to be fined, serve jail time, or be forced to get help.
‘Merica!
So Matthew, who would make the decision on whether to prosecute this person for his behavior – the airport police / municipal authority, or the Feds? And is it on AA to start the process by making a complaint? As soon as the guy was removed, AA likely regarded the issue as resolved. As for the police, the incident might fall under a misdemeanor, in which case the guy would be released before the police even finished the paperwork, so why bother? Plus the local DA might not even prosecute if the policy has been “enlightened” to new ways. Just saying…
I do agree that it’s a waste of court resources but it’s an attempt at theft of service. It’s the same as saying butter should be free with my bread so I’ll just shove a stick in the bread bag. Or deciding I don’t need to stop at at a stop sign because I’m a sovereign citizen. Airports have a customs jail (my friend was in one in Amsterdam, the whole 4 months before his passport expired) so he should just sit in there for 4-6 hours plus a fine for a private jail “lounge access” – $300 for 4 hours? And if the airline wants to ban him, that’s their choice.
Based on the video, do you think the man was high on something or perhaps mentally handicapped? I doubt it
I’m a psychiatrist. He appeared mentally ill to me.
So very confident I am of your diagnosis off of a 2:38 video.
Sarcasm. I have zero confidence. And, zero confidence that you are a licensed psychiatrist.
Board certified.
But hey, I deal with people who don’t think I’m a real psychiatrist all the time. They also believe lots of other interesting things. You be you.
Banned for life for delaying the flight. Entitled few (1350’s) have got more brazen. Civilized folks suffer.
Just another greasy American doing stupid shyt. Why these clowns need so much attention on the plane is beyond me.
most likely dual citizen…his other citizenship was Israeli…and the ACTUAL passenger who had been assigned the seat was Palestinian.
Why do some entitled Americans seem to think their US citizenship somehow exempts them from rules? (This reminds me of the folks getting arrested in the Turks & Caicos for guns.)
That being said, it’s not just Americans – remember the Brit who got jailed and deported from Singapore because he refused to wear a mask during Covid?
The police should not arrest people like this. They should take them to a room behind the airport and beat the crap out of them with a baseball bat. You’d see a lot less of this if that was policy.
Ah. We see a victim of social media in action.
waiting for Bonnie Bedilia to jump out from the lav and tase the dude.
Whitey is entitled
@Samus – it wasn’t guns but bullets found in his bag. While there are entitled people out there, I don’t think this Turks and Caicos incident is an example. I can honestly see a situation where he simply didn’t know the rules and also forgot there were stray bullets in his bag.
I happened to also go to Turks and Caicos just last month. When going through security to depart? I was stopped for extra screening. An agent went through my backpack and found a 1.7 mL aloe vera spray I had bought for sunburn. I was told to throw it away, and when I asked why, it was because I didn’t put the spray in a quart-sized baggie. It’s obvious I was within the liquids limit, but the can had to be in a baggie. The agents at security are quite militant and have this dumb rule which I too did not know about. Was I entitled and trying to evade rules? No. And then I remembed the story of the guy with bullets, and the attitude of the agents at the airport started to make sense.
Anyways, long story short – people who break rules often aren’t doing it out of entitlement, or are American, or mentally ill. But the guy on this flight is likely all three.
There is a reason he did not go to jail. I have been on planes before and as I was going through the electronic ticket scanner, it changed my seat to another seat. It is likely that the man purchased the bulkhead seat when he bought the ticket but then may have arrived to the airport late or something else caused his seat to be changed and he was not willing to move because of the switch. The bigger question, is why didn’t the other man in the checkered shirt offer to sit in the other seat in order to avoid the delay. I know he too probably paid for the bulkhead but he was being just as petty if the entire plane had to be unloaded. If the man in the plaid shirt was willing to move, he could have addressed the mix up with the airlines later and avoided the entire confrontation.
No, he was not being “just as petty.” How can you possibly make that argument with a straight face?
so the message you’re sending then is to act like a toddler to get what you want.
Que the dramatic music….. It seemed like I was watching COPS.
Such people should not be allowed to fly. They are a menace to society.
I believe that when a person enters an airport and goes through all of the checkpoints required to get to their flight that the FAA is responsible for every single passenger. Watching these entitled, obnoxious passengers “demand“ and deliberately disregard direction of flight crews heavier penalties need to be enforced. Whether these individuals are on drugs, have had too much alcohol, have mental health issues or are just being plain a$$ holes the FAA needs to step up there game and start protecting their crews and all the other passengers onboard … implement heavy fines even for 1st time offenders !!! Put them on a NO fly list .. whatever needs to be done to protect the rest of the passengers . Also, let us remember that children board these airplanes too and should not be terrorized or subjected to this kind of behavior … its a disgrace