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TV Legend Publicly Shames American Airlines Flight Attendant

Film, stage and television star LeVar Burton used his fame to make American Airlines regret treating him shabbily on a recent flight.

Airline passengers have come to expect a sometimes-less-than-cheerful approach to customer service from certain legacy carriers in North America. Those wiling to spend a bit of extra money on premium cabin seats aren’t immune to a seeming disinterest in passenger comfort either, but when a slighted passenger has nearly 2 million followers on Twitter registers a complaint, company officials tend to sit up and take notice.

On Sunday, LeVar Burton, beloved host of the popular television show Reading Rainbow took to social media to read the riot act to American Airlines. The star of Star Trek: The Next Generation let his fans know that he was “in no mood for disrespect” from American Airlines.

Burton first tweeted about his frustration shortly before his flight from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) departed Sunday evening. “@AmercianAir after paying for two 1st class seats and being unceremoniously bumped back to business, I’m in NO MOOD for disrespect!” the actor told his followers.

Later, Burton, who is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Kunta Kinte in the award-winning miniseries Roots, further explained his dissatisfaction in a later post which singled out a specific American airlines employee. “Yes, I’m referring to you, flight attendant manning the boarding door on @AmericanAir flight 2225!” Burton wrote. “Your attitude leaves MUCH to be desired!”

Just moments before the flight’s scheduled departure, the star took one last shot at the surly airline employee. “To the flight attendant on @AmericanAir Flight #2225, who when asked for a blanket said, ‘Put on a sweater, Honey.’ Not funny or helpful,” Burton posted.

At this point, the American Airlines social media team took an interest in the matter and requested that the actor make contact with them on a slightly less public forum. “@levarburton Can you please meet us in DMs with your record locator, LeVar?” the airline said in a friendly and helpful sounding tweet. “We’d like to look into this further.”

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41 Comments
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Bretteee June 18, 2017

To call him honey and tell him to put on a sweater is really crass and disrespectful.

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alawrencenyc June 16, 2017

I agree completely with those who talk of 2 classes of service on flight 2225, that's the norm and I'd bet that's the configuration from which Burton chose his 2 seats. It is possible that another plane was substituted on flt.2225 this past Sunday which was outfitted with 3 classes of service and Burton was given a new boarding pass with a lower number row number on it. This would have made him, a not regular flyer, believe he'd been downgraded when in reality all that had happened is he had NOT been UPGRADED. That he was so disgruntled and verbal about the issue from the moment he entered the plane until who knows when makes me question why none of the staff took the time to explain to him what had happened. ORD is not a hole in the wall - the first Flagship, probably more Concierge Keys, etc. - and there are plenty of AA staff handling important fliers. Maybe Burton's attitude was so belligerent for some other reason - stress, drink, medication - even before he got on the plane that he would listen to no one. I hope to hear the resolution of this issue soon.

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arcticflier June 16, 2017

Weero wrote above: "This is FlyerTalk, not CNN or Rolling Stones magazine – you guy cannot just print Twitter spam from some actor as the truth without at least checking it for consistency when it comes to aviation fairy tales." ------ Exactly. For example, I consider the expression "honey" to be a southern term of good natured endearment or politeness. Perhaps the FA responded, "We don't have any blankets remaining, you might want to put on a sweater, honey". As for getting bumped. Do we know he paid for a First Class seat? Or was he earlier bumped up to First and then lost the bump. There is just too much unknown here except for one fact, we have a guy with a bajillion followers on social media and who jumps to social media to complain prior to being an adult and following proper channels to air a grievance or misunderstanding. PrimaDonna.

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USAoz June 15, 2017

LeVar Burton ? Who ? Not a legend, not a celebrity, not a star, just a very average actor. What a princess.

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crumb June 15, 2017

@fly747first, why should he refer to them as anything other than @AmericanAir on Twitter when @AmericanAir is the handle for the company's official Twitter account?