Two flight attendants argued loudly in front of passengers over an upgrade then refused to work with one another on a SkyWest-operated flight for American Eagle, prompting an extended flight delay. What a glaring display of unprofessionalism!
Flight Attendants Fight Over Upgrade, Refuse To Reconcile, Delay Flight
The incident occurred on AA4860, operating from Los Angeles (LAX) to Houston (IAH) on behalf of American Airlines. A lady was upgraded to business class and asked a male flight attendant if she could switch with the man next to her husband in economy class, so the two could sit together. The flight attendant told her to go ahead.
But the other flight attendant onboard interjected, denying the request and stating that such seat swaps go against the carrier’s policy. That prompted a bitter argument between the two flight attendants.
ESPN reporter Ashley Brewer, pictured above, captured the incident on a now-deleted Tik-Tok video titled, “My flight can’t take off because two flight attendants got in a fight and now are REFUSING to work together.”
“A lady in first class asked to switch seats with a guy in coach so she could sit by her husband. One attendant said yes, other said no not allowed. Turned into a heated argument. SO DUMB!
“They kept bickering and going back and forth in the middle of the aisle about the rules, and what was right and what was wrong. They just had some beef or something.”
Ground staff were called onboard in an attempt to mediate the situation, but the male flight attendant insisted he could not work with the female flight attendant. A replacement flight attendant was called in, but that led to a flight delay. Then the female flight attendant decided she no longer wished to work on the flight, so a reserve flight attendant had to be called for her too. Brewer wrote:
“Screwing customers over because of their own personal emotions affecting their work. Most unprofessional thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life.”
I only get to see my fiancé for 24 hours. It’s now 22 because @AmericanAir attendants are being petty 🙄 #justiceforfrank
— Ashley Brewer (@ESPNAshley) March 12, 2023
SkyWest issued the following statement concerning the flight:
“SkyWest is aware of reports regarding a flight attendant issue that caused flight 4860, operating as American Eagle from Los Angeles to Houston, to be delayed on Saturday. We regret the delay this caused for our passengers and apologize for any inconvenience. We hold all our employees to the highest standards of professionalism and are conducting an internal investigation related to this flight.”
Those two flight attendants don’t deserve to be employed by SkyWest, because not only do they give SkyWest a bad name, but they give American Airlines a bad name.
CONCLUSION
An American Airlines flight operated by SkyWest was delayed due to bickering flight attendants.
Maybe the passenger that brought the “psychiatric support dog” onboard knew something we did not:
(yes, this little love was sitting in first class as well)
image: ashbrew/ Instagram
Once every while, if I fly domestic F or TATL J, and I notice an active duty soldier or very elderly person lining up in a latter group, I offer to switch my seat with them. Never had any problems and despite me trying to do it as discreetly as I can, the gate agents and FAs find out and they thank me and the FAs try to make me as comfortable as I can in the Y seat. Never had any problems when doing this and I was surprised when I read this.
You sir, are a top man.
Ohhh, I saw that first picture and thought “which airline or route is she working?” LOL!! Totally lost interest in the rest of the article. Get the two snowflake FAs fired. Problem solved.
Oh baby, I was thinking that FA could sure get me in the upright position.
Why that photo for this story?
Exactly what Tom said. Clickbait photo. We know she’s the one who eyewitnessed the event but her photo has nothing to do with the FAs arguing.
This page is slowly turning into VFTW and no, that’s not a good thing.
Agree. It’s very disingenuous
The dog was the winner for good behavior. The humans not so much.
I bet they believe they deserve a 35% raise
I can see both arguments, the other passenger was not entitled to an upgrade.
If she wishes to remain in economy, she could just decline the upgrade, and the upgrade would go to whoever is next on the list. Current first class passengers do not decide who gets upgraded.
it is not clear in the article if her current economy seat is separate from her husband. If so, she could ask to switch economy seats, and if the other passenger declines then remain in first.
I see your argument, but it’s possible that they weren’t seated next to each other in economy to begin with. She was not deciding to upgrade a passenger out of the blue but rather give up her own seat.
It is interesting that there was a fight that broke out with it in that the male FA could have informed the passenger that the female FA in economy wasn’t going for it and leave it at that OR, to really grind her gears, he could ask the husband in economy class to come up to talk to the wife and then quietly upgrade him to first class. 🙂
All that said, I’m chuckling in that I had a conversation with my wife that there was a possibility I would get upgraded but she wouldn’t in economy class and would she be ok if I stayed up front. 🙂 We have friends who’ve done the same. I would NOT want my wife to give up a first class seat to sit with me in economy. We can always use the wifi to apple message each other. 🙂
Remember, they are there for your safety.
The female attendant should be the one fired
The J passenger was making a trade down. Doing what Matthew has long said, if you trade seats, you had better be trading from a better seat to a less desirable seat.
The female FA gives all FAs a bad name. She needs to mind her own business. The FC attendant said the switch was fine. She needs to keep in economy where she belongs
I agree,
I assume that her coach seat was apart form her husband. I respectfully disagree with staradmiral. Once she was upgraded, the first class seat was hers. Now she can offer her husband’s seatmate a better seat in trade. Her previously assigned seat might not have been desirable to her trading partner. Of course, if he dclines, she stays in first.
Classic example of stupidity – where did “common sense” go?
During a 30+ year career with 3 airlines, the rules have changed many times. Trading seats has, at various times, been prohibited, allowed once discreetly, allowed only once among people traveling together, allowed as many times during a flight as the passengers wish to trade and with as many people as there are on the plane. I have no idea what the current policy is at my airline now. But after 30 years, I’ve kind of lost interest in getting worked up over small things and I can’t imagine caring if people trade seats or not. I’m also perfectly capable of being civil to a coworker I loathe for the duration of a trip. These bad apples should be fired because I’m tired of working with their type.