Flight Attendant Refuses to Board Passenger Over Perceived Airport Slight

A Virgin America flight attendant became upset enough over being cut off at a revolving door leading to the terminal that the man responsible for the faux pas was kicked off his flight.

There are two sides to every story, but Monday evening, nearly the entire world of social media appeared to be squarely on the side of a Dallas city official who live-tweeted his confusion over being prohibited from boarding his Virgin America flight home from LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). Bobby Abtahi, an Iranian-American, was at first told only that he would not be allowed on his flight because the crew “didn’t feel comfortable” allowing him on the flight.

The vice-chair of the Dallas Plan Commission soon after sent a tweet expressing his frustration, writing, “So @VirginAmerica captain/crew didn’t ‘feel comfortable’ w/ me on flight. Wasn’t allowed to board. Still waiting for @aplusk to show up…”

So @VirginAmerica captain/crew didn’t “feel comfortable” w/ me on flight. Wasn’t allowed to board. Still waiting for @aplusk to show up…

— Bobby Abtahi (@BobbyAbtahi) November 30, 2015

In the tweet, Abtahi referenced Ashton Kutcher, the host of the long-running MTV prank show Punk’d.

Abtahi told the Dallas Morning News that a flight attendant was concerned after she felt that he had cut in front of her at a revolving door at some point before the flight. Recalling the incident, Abtahi told a reporter that “a woman had squeezed behind him into the same revolving door partition to get into the airport, and they both fumbled to get out.” He said he didn’t think much of the incident and was surprised to learn the stranger was a flight attendant on his flight home when a gate agent got on the phone with the crew to find out why they were “uncomfortable” allowing him to fly.

“She said I cut in front of a flight attendant on my way inside the airport and that they didn’t feel comfortable with me on the flight,” Abtahi told the newspaper describing his later interaction with a gate agent. “I said if that was the case then I would apologize. She went back on the phone and said I wasn’t allowed on the flight.”

Abtahi tweeted that he was able to book an American Airlines flight that was scheduled to depart for DFW at nearly the same time as his original flight. American Airlines soon got in on the back-and-forth on social media, tweeting, “@BobbyAbtahi We’re happy to have you on board with us, Bobby! Enjoy your flight.”

@BobbyAbtahi We’re happy to have you on board with us, Bobby! Enjoy your flight. — American Airlines (@AmericanAir) November 30, 2015

After accepting an apology from airline officials, Abtahi made a tongue-in-cheek effort to defuse the situation, tweeting, “I got a nice sincere apology from @VirginAmerica. You are now permitted to calm down Internet.”

I got a nice sincere apology from @VirginAmerica. You are now permitted to calm down Internet.

— Bobby Abtahi (@BobbyAbtahi) December 1, 2015

Virgin America offered both to reimburse Abtahi for his American Airlines ticket and give him two free tickets valid for future travel. “After further review, we believe this was the result of a misunderstanding and we’re reaching out to apologize to Mr. Abtahi,” airline officials said in a statement to the Dallas Morning News. “As an airline that prides itself on our award-winning guest service, we take issues like this very seriously.”

For his part, Abtahi said the apology was enough and he considered the matter resolved.

“They did apologize, which is all that I wanted,” he told the newspaper. “I don’t like the idea of throwing freebies at the problem.” Although Abtahi was not interested in the airline’s offer of free travel, Virgin agreed to forward the tickets to The Human Rights Initiative, a charitable organization that supports refugees.

[Photo: Getty]