American Airlines kicked a travel blogger off a transatlantic flight in one of the most ridiculous crew power trips we’ve seen in years.
Kicked Off A Flight For Moving A Bag: The Ridiculous Removal Of A Travel Blogger From AA106
Let me first disclose that JT is a friend…and while that automatically makes me not exactly a neutral observer, he’s a man of tremendous integrity as a blogger and digital nomad…I trust him 100% and that is based on a multi-year relationship.
In what can only be described as an embarrassing overreaction, American Airlines removed AwardWallet writer JT Genter from flight AA106 from New York (JFK) to London Heathrow (LHR) after he moved an unclaimed bag, which turned out to belong to a flight attendant, to make space in the overhead bin for his own. Here’s what happened:
- JT and his wife Katie boarded AA106 and found the overhead bins above their Premium Economy seats full.
- He opened a bin containing two large roller bags lying flat. He turned them upright to make room, but one bag still wouldn’t fit.
- No flight attendants were in the area at the time. Genter asked passengers seated nearby if the bag belonged to them. No one claimed it.
- He took the unclaimed bag a few rows back into economy and placed it in a bin that had room.
- As flight attendants closed up overhead bins before takeoff, the bag Genter had placed in economy class stuck out, making it impossible to close the bin. A non-rev passenger pointed out that it had been moved by Genter.
- A flight attendnat approached Genter and asked him if he had moved the back. He said yes…this was his first indication it was a flight attendant’s bag.
- Genter exaplined he “assumed” it was a coach passenger’s bag because no one had claimed it and there were no markings suggesting it was a crewmemeber’s bag.
- The flight attendnat admnoished him, “It’s first come, first served. We don’t have a specific place. We can put it anywhere we want to.”
- She then told him to move his bag to business class. He pushed back, saying the bag contained electronics and medication and the crew bag should be moved instead.
- She disappeared to business class and returned with a male colleague; the owner of the bag.
- The male flight attendant confronted Genter and demanded to know why he touched the bag. Genter explained what happened (just before this interaction he had turned on his audio recorder).
Female FA: “Is this your bag? Is this suitcase yours?”
Male FA: “Did somebody move my suitcase?”
Me: “I asked if anyone here had this bag… This is for premium economy only, is that correct?”
Male FA: “You moved my suitcase. You touched my suitcase and you moved it.”
- The male flight attendant leaned in and said, “You moved my suitcase. You touched my suitcase and you moved it.”
- Per Genter, he flight attendant then “leaned and wagged a finger inches from my face as he barked at me: ‘You’re outta here.'”
- The purser then approached and a discussion ensued.
- Genter attempted to clarify that he didn’t know it was a crewmember’s bag. The purser dismissed his explanation and walked off:
Male FA: “No, you know what, Tim. I’ll take it up front.”
Purser: “Put it in my closet.”
Male FA: “But I want you to go to bat for me.”
Purser: “You never… you never… you never move anybody’s bag. Ever.”
Male FA: “You touched my bag!”
Purser: “You moved a bag. You did something wrong. You know what? I’m going to go tell the captain.”
Male FA: “I want him outta here.”
- Around 20 minutes later, a gate supervisor boarded and said she didn’t think Genter should be removed, noting it appeared to be an honest mistake.
- The crew insisted they would not fly with Genter onboard. The supervisor said the captain deferred to the crew.
- Genter was asked to deplane and did so without protest. His carry-on was still onboard and he was not allowed to retrieve it (a member of ground staff did).
- His checked bag flew without him to London, a likely violation of international baggage regulations.
- He was rebooked on the next flight to London. The same supervisor apologized and offered to upgrade him to Flagship First (in a seat that did not recline), but Genter remained in Premium Economy.
- The supervisor listened to JT’s recording of the confrontation and confirmed it matched his account.
- American Airlines customer relations later reached out and offered 5,000 AAdvantage miles and a vague apology for the crew’s behavior.
Please accept our sincerest apologies for the experience you had when you were removed from the flight due to a minor misunderstanding. Given that we have standards regarding the customer service our team provides, I can understand your disappointment. That’s never the kind of experience we want you to have when traveling with us, and I am very sorry that we didn’t provide you with a better customer service experience this time around. Please know that we take your feedback very seriously, and we appreciate the time you’ve taken to share your comments with us.
5,000 miles is laughably paltry…
My Thoughts
There are legitimate reasons to remove passengers. This wasn’t a legitimate reason.
Yes, Genter should not have touched the bag. I would never touch someone else’s bag and I agree with the female flight attendant that the overhead bin space is shared and no one has claim to specific space. I cannot defend Genter there. If you think a bag is out of place, ask a flight attendant…don’t move it yourself.
And if you’re asked to move your bag to business class, even if you think it’s stupid, you do it.
But I cannot help to think about my recent AA flight from JFK (maybe the same nasty male FA!) and what an overreaction this was. His removal was not justified! The lack of de-escalation is pathetic. I find it shameful that a flight attendant would hold the flight hostage by declaring he would not travel if Genter was allowed back onboard. This should not have been allowed, even if it was the pragmatic solution (removing Genter instead of removing the flight attendant and then delaying or cancelling the flight).
It reminds me of when I was thrown off a United flight from Newark for taking a picture of my seat...a ridiculous overreaction in which the feeble-minded captain was unwilling to question the stupidity of his flight attendants.
> Read More: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures!
I’d like to hear the FA’s side of the story, but this sounds like a flight attendant who does not belong in a customer-facing role. And Genter has this all recorded…it’s just amazing to me that a flight attendant would be so vindictive over a passenger who would dare to push back on what appears to be an honest mistake.
CONCLUSION
A travel blogger was kicked off an American Airlines flight in a dispute over touching (as if he touched the private parts of the flight attendant). This was a dramatic overreaction and I’d hate to fly with that flight attendant.
What do you think about this matter?
image: JT Genter / used by permission
captain and entire crew of FAs should summarily be fired for this BS
That is how you stop power tripping crew
Oh, arrest them for theft of services as well. Let them clean toilets in the federal pen for a few years
JT recorded this and shared the recording with AA. It’s not like he was being a jerk…it was all captured. I wish I had done the same when I got thrown off…
No carry-on suitcases ought to be allowed onboard .
Crew is Correct that pax should Not touch other’s bags . That’s “out-of-order” . He is Not entitled to touch other’s bags .
Reminds me of moron grand-stand California Senator actor who today loud-mouthed grand-stand in a press conference by DHS and got escorted out of room . Entitled loud-mouth politicians who never heard the concept of “out-of-order” .
You refer to a senator that asked Noem a question ( in his building to attend a briefing ) and was handcuffed. Questioning authority is something no longer allowed? Because the attack on democracy from this authoritarian governing cannot survive without threats and inciting violence.
Stick to the topic alert. Quit your trolling and lies
Senator Padilla was not wearing his senate ID pin (to identify himself). Had been asked to wait until the proper time to ask a question. Refused to follow security procedures and leave a instructed by security. Is this the senator you are defending?
RE: Michael
You’re an idiot.
Re Nunya
Typical response from an uninformed liberal.
I disagree with that kind of collective punishment. That is like flattening Gaza because of Hamas. The male FA, yes, fire him.
I generally do not like the idea of people fired or be out of their mind scared of being fired. However, the male FA saying that man is outta here for touching his bag shows such serious unprofessional conduct that the male FA should be fired and banned from any employment aboard a plane.
the crew was responsible for not standing up to the MFer posing as an FA
Same for the moronic captain
..An immediate demotion to the Dalit caste !!
My apologies… this remark was meant for Derek’s first comment above ,,,,
Good. those travel bloggers are like roaches these days. They’re everywhere.
^^^^^ THIS!
The travel blogger acted entitled as hell. Respect other people’s property
Typical American Airlines customer experience.
The bag probably should have been pulled but PPBM protocol has exceptions for flying bags without corresponding pax on board where the discrepancy is airline-controlled. That determination is the airline’s call. I would imagine AA waived it in this case to get the flight out.
I view this as a gross overreaction and really embarassing conduct by the crew, and I would hate to be in JT’s place too, but I don’t think I would ever move someone else’s bag if I wasn’t able to ID its owner. I don’t think JT is blameless here. Were I in the same situation, I’d probably move the bag to J (there is always bin space in premium cabins on a widebody) and be done with it. Moving someone else’s bag out of the bin into a different cabin is, at minimum, discourteous. It probably doesn’t warrant being thrown off a flight, though.
and by “moving the bag” I mean to say placing my own bag…
Usually there is enough slack that, if one opens 3 or 4 bins, they will find one will loosely packed bags that can be turned sideways and your bag put in there.
I have a small padlock as well as a pre-packed plastic bag with essentials so if my bag is put far away from me, I can take out the plastic bag and snap the lock on.
There should be a national database of FA’s subject to disciplinary action. That male power tripping FA should be subject to disciplinary action, including even being fired. I generally do not want people fired, even if they are lazy and bad employees.
What’s more unsettling to me is JT’s behaviour. JT felt entitled enough to take someone else’s personal belongings, tampered with it and switched its location. Premium Economy can be decently sized. Did he speak with each and every single person sitting in PE to verify it wasn’t their bag. I bet he didn’t.
Not only did he move it, he didn’t even stow it properly because the bin would not have closed.
Did JT make a statement about this or did he simply overlook his own actions and put all the blame on the flight attendant?
Well said.
Yeah I agree with this.
Definitely don’t need to be thrown off plane but no way would I move a bag like that. Being three rows away from medication hardly a big deal.
Did you text JT, “Welcome to the club!”? Not a fun club to be in (people unjustly kicked off an aircraft).
This reminds of people who stand in parking spaces to reserve them. The blogger should have never touched other peoples stuff. Who knows what his intentions were – more importantly how would the crew know what his intentions were? Was he moving the stuff so he could steal later on the long flight? I dont think its an over-reaction to have him thrown off. Good for AA for throwing off this Karen.
“Who knew what his intentions were?” Are you kidding, Harvey. Figure it out. The captain, if he had any sense or testicles, should have had JT apologize to the empowered flight attendant, had him move his bag up front, and everything would have been just fine. Instead it escalated into a preventable mini-crisis.
My opinion, and also a pet peeve: People, who feel entitled, who put bags in overhead bins and know the door won’t close but leave the bag anyway, cause extra work for the crew. That is plain stupid. It can be explained by a traveler that doesn’t know better, but a seasoned traveler, a ‘travel blogger’ even, who is a self proclaimed expert on all things travel related, clearly knew exactly what he was doing and he did it to make a petty statement, or to draw attention to himself. Likely he wants to attract attention to his followers, however few of them there are. That guy should be ashamed. What a ‘Ken’…And, yes, defending his action (you said you were biased in advance, I get it) is clearly a biased viewpoint, although you did some good advertising for this joker. Having said that, he should not have touched the bag without clearing it first with the bags owner. If the owner could not be located he should have located a flight attendant. Finally, if the crew indeed said he could use the forward business class storage and he refused, that further explains his stupidity. Lastly,
Good! Please kick off all the clowns like this guy!!!
He was lucky the male FA didn’t slap his wrists
The travel blogger is completely wrong. It’s not right to take someone else’s luggage just to put your own nearby. Does he think he’s better than others?
For once we can agree!
Who knows, maybe the world can still be saved.
Nah.
Hi Dave!
Yes, maybe we have differences about being racist, but I’m sure we agree on many things.
Cheers!
I would have probably shared JT’s reluctance to move his bag to business. It was likely separated by a galley, and generally FAs don’t like people passing through.
so you are telling me this moronic blogger who supposedly does this for a living, presumably has racked up a lot of air miles, didn’t know not to move someone else’s bag??
so yes, the FA overreacted, but JT is an idiot and should be kicked off the flight for idiocy.
@cy … +1 .
Too bad the AwardWallet EIC will not be able to track those extra 5,000 miles AAdvantage miles via AwardWallet. Quite the history between AW and AA… I suppose the future success of that relationship was not, shall we say, “in the bag”.
So many de-escalating pathways here… nice to have an ultimately low stakes news story to distract on a tragic day I suppose, but lessons for all of us who are fortunate enough to travel to keep our eyes on the prize (the wonders of travel) and not the peanuts.
Entitled people touch and move others bags all the time! Especially If they have 2 or 3 items to put up in overhead bins vs keeping one at their feet!FA,s are there and watch doing nothing. I have spoken up when peeps mess with my bag but they move it anyway.
He was being just as petty as the FA here in deciding his bag needed to be directly above his seat. Being kicked off the flight is a bit extreme in most cases, but JT knows better than anyone how to behave on planes and that moving a bag to a spot where the bin doesn’t close isn’t helpful to anyone.
Would JT have called someone out in a blog post for delaying a flight due to not putting a bag in the overhead correctly? I think he would have. He did this exact thing.
Why is it always American?
How patriotically ” UN-American ” … practically on the eve of our King’s birthday parade & the approaching 4th of July !!
Why didn’t JT just move his bag as instructed by crew and think of enjoying a flight with his wife?
because that way he wouldn’t have gotten all this publicity…its what half these guys seem to live for. Create fake controversies of their own doing and blog about it. JT, Josh cahill…all the same.
@cy ,,, +1 .
@JoeMart … +1 .
Adjusting bags within a bin to make room is, in my opinion, ok. Moving a bag from one bin to another bin, in my opinion, is not cool.
I don’t understand when the working FA says “It’s first come, first served. We don’t have a specific place. We can put it anywhere we want to.” and yet wo be to the customer traveling in economy that decides to put their bag in the overhead space in F when they board the aircraft. Also, Doesn’t AA label some of their bin spaces “Reserved for Main Cabin Extra” etc? Sounds like the non-Rev FA got this going and kept it going off track. Whatever happened to de-escalation training? I think the only fault I see in JT, when he states he could not find an FA, trying to wait a bit longer until he did was probably the better solution. I recognize, especially for an international flight, boarding is long and there is a lot going on and FAs are busy, however, making sure pax can get to their seats and have their luggage stowed quickly is part of getting the flight ready as soon as possible. It is frustrating, and I’ve encountered it before, to be in row 1, be the first person on board and you know your stuff has to go in the overhead bins and you open the bin to see it already stuffed with FA bags and you get the smile/ shrug of just put it back a row or two (which has a domino effect for the other pax bags).
JT should never have moved anyone else’s bag. And to then choose to be disagreeable about moving his bag? Not good.
That said, the male FA was wildly inappropriate and should have been removed from the flight – and likely from his job.
JT should be penalized in some way for moving someone’s belongings, but this seems like major overkill. Wasn’t there a lesser punishment available?
Furthermore, the captain deferring to the crew as to whether he should fly or not is just all kinds of crazy. If the male FA was that distraught, he needed to leave the flight. FAs have been given WAY too much control on the plane.
Umm, why did JT do something egregious? He asked if the bag belonged to anyone before. It did not. He approached this with every courtesy possible. Sounds like a well handled and reasonable execution of trying to make things work for everyone.
I will say this as well, if the FA was so defensive and upset about his oversized carry on I am suspicious as to why. It’s a 24 hour turnaround. You need an oversized carry on? What was he carrying that required this large bag?
I guess policies differ airline to airline. What happened to Crew Only bins? Touching anyones suitcase without permission is a no no. This travel blogger should know better than move stuff with out first asking FA. FA is wants to strut his authority and wins. Dont fly American Airlines for a while. Revenue dips and Management takes action! Super easy way to make life difficult for others. Stop giving business your money!
“We are primarily there for your safety. Which includes refusing to fly for you when you touch our bag and disturb our preciousness.”
I’m going to start carrying lollipops to hand to these children. “Here, suck on this and go back to your galley.”
This is an interesting story. Yes, you should not move other people’s bags but I have seen so many passengers playing stupid and taking advantage of the system that I sometimes wonder what the best approach is. A few months ago I boarded an international Delta flight in Delta One. I was literally the first passenger to walk into the business class and found the overhead bin above my seat closed. As I opened it, it was full with carry on luggage. So, how is that possible if I am the first passenger there and the overhead bib clearly shows the number of my set on it. Since I only had one piece of luggage and I was flying with my wife, I accommodated my bag on her space with her bag and did not bother to make it a big deal. But again, why would FAs use my space? I also see many passengers boarding planes and walking by first class domestic and like nobody is watching them they place their bags on those overhead bins. Again, it is written “first class only” so I just shake my head and stay quiet but understand why others would fight for that space.
You did see that he asked everyone around him if the bag was theirs? He did exactly the right things.
Exactly the right thing… until he moved it. The space is shared and a passenger does not have any right to relocate others’ belongings.
This. You don’t relocate anyone’s bag – FA or not, without their knowledge.
@Santastico … If the passengers with carry-on suitcases are going to “fight for that space” , then the airport police ought to escort them off the aircraft .
If the passengers do not have carry-on suitcases , then they will be doing the right thing . So , don’t take carry-on suitcases . Check them in for trans-Atlantic flights . Simple .
Meanwhile , the crew has a duty to insist that pax not move FA bags ,
And DHS has every right to hold a press conference to explain to the people , without a grandstanding actor politician interrupting them with uninvited proclamations .
I see your troll bosses won’t let you deviate from today’s script about sweeping the truth under the rug. They have a big problem. And by the way, your pathetic solution to only checked bags? A tactic you have used in the past to move the topic to the maga script.
Alert must we be invited to speak? Because you’ve been violating that rule since your arrival on this blog. The poser DHS secretary and her reality show need content. Only the lemmings buy into the poop you try to sell here.
How bad do your life choices have to be to end up on the side of a woman (using the term lightly) like Noem, who brags about murdering puppies? And what does any of that fascist presser have to do with this issue whatsoever? You need to grow up, little snowflake.
That’s some aggressive unprofessional staff. Did they mistake JT for a non rev and think they could give him an attitude ? I’m kicked out of AA non rev website at the moment so I’d have to look up the flight. Sometimes there’s like 70 non revs.
Last year an older FA told a passenger in the first row of economy to fasten his seatbelt as we were about to land. The “homie” got verbally aggressive towards her . The FA called the captain and a go around was initiated. The plane was met by police lol.
Crews are tired of passengers ignoring directives. If one of my crew members tells you to move a bag you do it. Crew member directives are not negotiable. He wasn’t removed for touching the bag. He was removed for not following crew directives.
If you move somebody’s bag you are automatically wrong.
@Angus … +1 .
I certainly appreciate that this is your friend but I think you should consider keeping this petty, she said – he said experiences type of blogs off of here. It minimizes your credibility.
With respect, I think it’s important considering it happened to me too.
The part that nobody is mentioning is that this appears to violate AA’S OWN NEW POLICY regarding the ability of FAs to have passengers thrown off a flight. Chances that anybody will be held accountable in this debacle, though? Roughly -3%, with a +/- 3% margin of error. And for that matter, shame on the female FA, the purser, and the captain for meekly deferring to an obviously rogue crewmember.
That being said, JT needs to accept fault for his role in what went wrong here. It is a d!ck move to move someone else’s bag without telling them, and there is absolutely zero upside to arguing with a crew on a US airline at a US airport (which he of all people should know are rights-free, Constitution-free zones where passengers have no recourse against abusive employees). He should have also been thinking about how his actions would affect his wife on a trip I’m sure she was looking forward to.
AA’s new policy for removing passengers requires escalation all the way up to a station manager in cases like this. It happened here. I don’t know the precise details but I know the protocol was followed. Which suggests to me… there is more to the story we don’t know, and that may not have been recorded, either.
JT and his “wife” are huge grifters, like much of your “industry”. Why is it that a large majority of them end up having issues on flights compared to the general public?
You don’t touch and move someone’s bag, PERIOD. He comes off as an entitled individual by immediately assuming it was some low class coach passengers bag.
As an objective journalist you should ask for the receipt of how he got these seats and then if he used miles, where did the miles come from. Odds are old 4 eyes grifted them somehow.
Good point. Without more knowledge, I assumed that the truth of this interaction was probably in the middle
why the quotes on wife?
I agree JT is a huge grifter. I’ve never met him, but across his many posts, he sounds even more entitled than the FA. Sure this was not AA best moment, but the fact that JT takes no blame and even gets Matthew to back him up is sad. I’ll guess that if he had made sure the FA’s bag fit and closed the bin, they would have taken off without issue.
Looks like we have a bunch of POSes posing as FAs commenting here, condemning JT Genter
Yoe are service employees, nothing more. Know your role and shut your hole. Maybe if you wankers did your jobs properly, flying would be more civilized
I don’t understand why an FA would put his bags into an overhead designated for premium economy passengers. Obviously the FA put his bag there before anybody boarded and he had to know he was creating a space problem for paying customers. No place else for his bag? That’s his problem and AA’s. Incredible the passenger was kicked off the flight over this. I guarantee he would have flown if the bag he moved belonged to another passenger. The FA is a jerk and the captain is a weenie who probably was worried the other FA’s wouldn’t like him anymore. What a joke.
Almost the entire PE cabin was full of nonrevs flying for free, most of whom in Scott (the FA)’s party.
They’re spending the weekend in London, as it’s Fetish Week this week (no, I’m not making this up, check his Insta).
Also note FAs are coordinating responses to this story on their Facebook group, and Scott is heavily active there (just like he is in Gary’s comments, which is so weird).
A couple things here:
1) The FAs bag was larger than the allowed carry on size.
2) Premium Economy has a pitch of 38 inches. That’s 20-25% more than the usual 30-32 pitch. So there should be enough overhead room for everybody in Premium Economy. I have a hunch several FAs were hogging the overhead because they wanted to get off the plane as quickly as possible at the destination. (Not just the power tripping FA.) If this is the issue, they are selfish jerks.
3) A non-rev quickly moved to his seat before he was told, “The FA refuses to work the flight if you are on the plane.” Clearly this FA was trying to invent a reason to kick somebody off so this non-rev could get a better seat. Unethical.
You don’t move someone else’s bag without their knowledge. All stop. Why couldn’t he move his bag back? That some entitlement there. Not condoning the flame out he got but he was definitely in the wrong.
JT gettin’ mad clout rn. Bro is trending.