American Airlines altercation with mother of twin babies

[drjones]

Do you have a link to her interview?

the source is the link on this page in post #22, the video interview with her lawyer.

 

[LaneGirl]

the source is the link on this page in post #22, the video interview with her lawyer.

See my edit above. Thanks!

 

[Meletx]

as i mentioned earlier, you can find several versions of events from supposed witnesses out there, they all contain conflicting information.

also, as i pointed out earlier - this woman does not claim that she was hit by the stroller. so anyone claiming they saw that is mistaken according to the woman herself.

This whole time, I thought she was crying because she was hit with the stroller. So, why was she crying?

 

[KaaBoom]

They had a place to stow the stroller and it was the cargo area of the plane.
The airlines have rules about taking a stroller onto a plane. Just because someone is having a melt down doesn't mean they should have their way.

There are plenty of places in the cabin to stow one stroller. The question is, is following one relatively minor airline rule, important enough to anger not one but at least two customers, and inconvenience an entire planeload of passengers by delaying the flight for one hour, while costing the airline a lot of money due to the delay. American Airlines apparently thinks it's not worth it, so they have suspended the FA responsible for it.

 

[LaneGirl]

This whole time, I thought she was crying because she was hit with the stroller. So, why was she crying?

Her lawyer said because her child was nearly hit she was upset.

Honestly as a mother and grandmother I totally understand. A near hit of your child can be upsetting.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

there is nothing you can imagine, no set of circumstances, that would make her crying seem reasonable or at least understandable? you seem to have figured out that she is the person more at fault here with very little information to go on.

I don't think her crying was reasonable but yes I do understand. I would imagine she was exhausted and emotional and it's definitely not easy flying with twins in tow from personal experience.

I know it seems I'm taking sides. But I haven't seen anything that makes me believe the FA was wrong in regards to the mother with the stroller. I do think he should not have engaged with the male passenger.

I don't have all the facts. JMO

 

[drjones]

This whole time, I thought she was crying because she was hit with the stroller. So, why was she crying?

we can only speculate, and people's opinions seem to be heavily influenced on how much sympathy they have for this woman.

is it possible she was told by another airline employee that her stroller would be allowed on board, and that she was stressed out travelling with 2 young children, and she was approached with hostility and overreacted? it seems possible, you can find some evidence to support this version (ie that airlines do allow some "super-collapsible" strollers on flights now), the FA's behavior with the male passenger may also support the idea that he may have been heavy handed dealing with her.

is it possible she ignored what she was told and brought the stroller on anyway, and then was a "petulant child" when she was told it would have to be removed? sure its possible.

we have witness accounts from MSM that say he was very forceful, even violent, with her. although these reports also claim they saw her struck by the stroller which we now know she is not claiming, maybe it looked that way? it certainly looked to more than one person like the stroller also almost hit the child.

and we know that the airline immediately suspended the employee and said that his actions were unacceptable just based off what they saw very early on. that might support that this FA was not as understanding or patient as he should have been with ths woman.

 

[al66pine]

Customer Service 101: The customer is ALWAYS right. The entire incident could have been prevented by the flight crew simply finding a place to stow the woman's stroller. The customer would have been happy, an entire planeload of passengers would have arrived on time, and been happy, and a flight attendant would not have been suspended. It would have been win-win situation for everybody.

"... incident could have been prevented by the flight crew simply finding a place to stow ... stroller" ??? bbm sbm

Respectfully, I believe F/As had already found or would find a space to stow a double stroller: the cargo hold. One post in this thread referred to a double stroller, and one or more posts & MSM said stroller had been tagged as a gate checked-item. IIUC (See post # __ by ___ re airline policies on strollers) stroller, esp a double stroller should have gone into cargo area. Period. *

Does anyone familiar w this plane know of any empty space capable of accommodating a double stroller in a space which would also prevent, during turbulence, the stroller from flying and causing great bodily harm or possibly death to a passenger, not a party to the "customer is always right" concept?

Again, ATM, IDK who was 'right' or 'wrong' in either a legal or moral sense. Just offering thoughts in this wonderful Websleuths site, allowing exchanges of ideas and opinions.

_____________________________________________________________________
* See amazon.com spreadsheet re double stroller weights- these examples 25-40 lbs.
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Trend-E...&refinements=p_n_feature_browse-bin:668896011

 

[LaneGirl]

"... incident could have been prevented by the flight crew simply finding a place to stow ... stroller" ??? bbm sbm

Respectfully, I believe F/As had already found or would find a space to stow a double stroller: the cargo hold. One post in this thread referred to a double stroller, and one or more posts & MSM said stroller had been tagged as a gate checked-item. IIUC (See post # __ by ___ re airline policies on strollers) stroller, esp a double stroller should have gone into cargo area. Period. *

Does anyone familiar w this plane know of any empty space capable of accommodating a double stroller in a space which would also prevent, during turbulence, the stroller from flying and causing great bodily harm or possibly death to a passenger, not a party to the "customer is always right" concept?

Again, ATM, IDK who was 'right' or 'wrong' in either a legal or moral sense. Just offering thoughts in this wonderful Websleuths site, allowing exchanges of ideas and opinions.

_____________________________________________________________________
* See amazon.com spreadsheet re double stroller weights- these examples 25-40 lbs.
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Trend-E...&refinements=p_n_feature_browse-bin:668896011

I had a double stroller when my kids were little...it was a double umbrella stroller and very easily could have fit in the overhead compartment. Collapsed it wasn't much bigger than a guitar case. I have no idea what stroller this lady had I'm just answering your question that yes I had a stroller that would easily fit in the overhead compartment.

 

[al66pine]

I had a double stroller when my kids were little...it was a double umbrella stroller and very easily could have fit in the overhead compartment. Collapsed it wasn't much bigger than a guitar case. I have no idea what stroller this lady had I'm just answering your question that yes I had a stroller that would easily fit in the overhead compartment.

TYVM for info re double strollers, as my info is coming from wiki/amazon re strollers. I have no clue.

 

[jadejazzkayla]

IMO, the woman was probably told she could "gate check" the stroller and may have misunderstood.

To gate check something you put it at the end of the jet walkway (right before you step onto the plane)

A baggage person will put a little gate check ticket on it and take it outside through a door leading to the cargo hold and stow it where it is readily accessible. When the plane gets to it's destination, the cargo people will immediately bring any gate checked items up and when you step off the plane your checked item will be waiting for you.

If the woman didn't understand the gate check procedure I am not surprised as there are many people in this thread that are unaware.

I'm sure it happens 100's of times each day.

 

[drjones]

since the other post has remained up i guess social media posts from people who claim to have been there are allowed?

as someone pointed out that other story has many possible problems, he claims he was across from the woman who filmed the video but it was a man who filmed it, maybe he thinks it is someone elses video idk, he also seems to be saying the woman had two strollers?

here is another "witness";

"I was also on this flight, the lady had been told at a previous gate(her statement when he was telling her she needed to check it) she could bring on as carry on. She demonstrated to the attendant how small it got, and boy it got small I want one of these myself now(looks like it was some sort of magic quad fold thing that made it look almost like a briefcase). She was afraid the stroller would not be returned at the stop and be forced to walk around with all her stuff and the baby. In fact at one point another flight attendant came back with the stroller and put it in over head storage.I'm pretty sure they didn't have spare crew for the flight and in order to keep the flight from getting further delayed they let him stay and set her up with a new flight. It's not the best outcome as he should have been removed the second he got all riled up but I can understand doing this rather than making the other people on the plane wait 1-2 hours for a backup to come. This is just my thought on it though. I really would like to make sure they made it home as the babies were playing with me and a couple of other people in the boarding gate before the flight.
Edit: Found the stroller in question here : https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Jogger-City-Tour-stroller/dp/B01J258IBQ?th=1
14lbs weight and i you look at their site they have a bag cover that if used you'd wouldn't think it was a stroller.



there are several more versions out there also. some contradict others, some contradict themselves... i wouldnt put much stock in any of them just yet, as we saw with the matter of her being hit by the stroller.

so did she have permission to bring the stroller on after demonstrating its ability to fold to an AA employee? i dont know.

did she knowingly disobey after being told not to bring it on? i dont know.

 

[nancydrew71]

My daughter has twins (now 11 years old). When they were babies she flew with them with various airlines and she always checked in their stroller. Everyone does. I don't know why this woman did not do this. The media should end this story and forget that lawyer. IMO the whole thing was uncalled for. She's going to be found in error and the lawyer will get nothing.

 

[thorpedo]

IMO, the woman was probably told she could "gate check" the stroller and may have misunderstood.

To gate check something you put it at the end of the jet walkway (right before you step onto the plane)

A baggage person will put a little gate check ticket on it and take it outside through a door leading to the cargo hold and stow it where it is readily accessible. When the plane gets to it's destination, the cargo people will immediately bring any gate checked items up and when you step off the plane your checked item will be waiting for you.

If the woman didn't understand the gate check procedure I am not surprised as there are many people in this thread that are unaware.

I'm sure it happens 100's of times each day.

That's how we've always done it with our big car/seat stroller combo. Worked out perfectly.