CO FF

Today, my family and I flew to Hawaii on AA. Luckily, my wife and I cleared to F 3 days ago (thank you, EXP). Our two kids, 16 and 12 1/2, were in Y.

When dessert (ice cream) was about to be served, I mentioned to the #2 FA serving F (along with the purser) that we were such good parents that we were going to bring our ice cream to our kids in Y. (They were serving from the front, and we were in the last row, so we didn't take anyones' food from them.)

Her response was to tell me "The purser won't let you do that. They don't want people bringing food back." She didn't explain, nor did I ask, who the "they" were.

That same FA then served each of us a dish of ice cream. I then got up and took the ice cream back to our kids, hung out in the back of Y chatting with the Y FAs while they ate, and brought the dishes and spoons back to F, where the same FA collected them without comment.

About an hour later, with 90 minutes left in the flight, the Purser came over to me. She was holding in her hand a partially-completed AA "In-Flight Disturbance Report". She referred to me as Mr. ____, using the name of the person originally assigned to my seat (with whom I had swapped at boarding so I could sit with my wife). The Purser said that since I had taken food out of the first-class cabin, she was going to have to make a report to the appropriate authorities. Sure enough, written on the form (I couldn't read upside down to see what was printed there) were the words "Took food out of first class".

I told the Purser exactly what I had been told by the #2 FA. I also told her that the FA had not told me that I was prohibited from taking the ice cream back to my kids, just that she - the Purser - wouldn't let me do it. Next, I told the Purser that if she intended to submit a written report, she should at least get my name right -- and so I handed her my EXP card to copy down my name.

At that point, the Purser again asked me what the other FA had told me, and I repeated it. I again said that I had never been directly told not to take the ice cream to my kids. She then handed me back my EXP card and said that, given the miscommunication with the other FA, she was not going to submit the report. The Purser then added that she thought this "no taking food back" rule was "a silly rule" (her words), but that she had no choice but to enforce it.

(As an aside: Other than the "hibiscus" (cranberry & champagne) served as PDB, neither my wife nor I had any alcoholic beverages.)

I have no doubt that she would have sent in this form to whereever in the bureaucracy it goes had I not been elite status.

* * *

My questions:

-- Has anyone else ever seen an AA Purser write up a pax for what I did?

-- If she had gone ahead with the report, what were the possible consequences? Was it a matter for LEOs?

-- And, the real question: is this the STUPIDEST thing you've ever seen AA cabin crew do in dealing with a passenger?