djp98374

create a thread on OMNI PR for my full candid response

RooseveltL

I stay away from the passengers title simply because Dr. Dao from United's fiasco a few years back was unlicensed after his practice credentials were revoked. It has nothing to do with his treatment by the Chicago Aviation PD but paraded all over the article by who knows who?
BTW - Dr Phil isn't a licensed Dr. He qualified if he passed education requirements but he can't practice legally so it is all relative and insignificant as my Ph.D friends are also Dr.

enviroian

What do you mean fat shaming? If the person was skinny and I called her a skinny person would you say I"m thin bashing? She's a COS/POS whatever you want to call it. Just being accurate in my description.

Also I never said what she was wearing was offensive.

mvoight

We don't know if that is how she looked in it on the flight.

AA100k

mvoight

We don't have footage of how she wore it when she was getting on the plane. We have photos of what she said she wore.
I remember an event where there was a clothing issue on an airline and the pictures taken by the passenger did not seem to match the other pictures taken of that passenger.

cmtlatitudes

Listen, I like a little fun and levity in the threads as much as anybody. But the repeated focus on the Victim - (and make no mistake, she was clearly a VICTIM of an American Airlines Flight Attendant on a power-trip) - specifically the continuing demeaning jokes of her body size and type - instead of on the behavior of the Flight Attendant - is misplaced.

Granted, it'll likely never be publicly disclosed what if any steps AA takes specifically in regard to the Flight Attendant(s?) in this case. We've all seen what people wear on vacation flights, as evidenced by the posts here. It's hard for me to fathom this action was somehow a well meaning - albeit wrong - professional judgement call by the FA. She clearly had a chip on her shoulder about something, an ax to grind, or simply woke up on the wrong side of the bed and wanted to lord her power over someone she thought she could pick on when they boarded the flight, demean, and puff herself up a bit an inflate her own self-importance. I actually think the FA wanted this poor woman to feel terrible, cry, and beg. Very disquieting a FA has this type of power and would be allowed to exercise it unilaterally and without impunity.

AA needs to address this with more than the refunded flight and an apology of sorts from an airline rep. The traveling public needs to be assured they won't be subjected to random abuse and humiliation by Flight Attendants. Or worry some random thing about them won't set a FA off and they could be denied boarding on their flights.

AA reads these threads. If the overwhelming response from posters is to joke about the "fat lady", instead of the FAs behavior and tolerance there of, why should AA take the incident more seriously?

chollie

I suspect AA heard from more than just the pax and the FA, and the fact that her ticket was refunded so quickly suggests to me that they know their FA was wrong. Furthermore, I think their investigation confirmed the pax's account that she was polite throughout, even when the FA was clearly trying to provoke her - otherwise AA would have taken the position that the pax's clothing was borderline but her attitude got her kicked off.

Great parenting, demonstrating to your offspring the proper way to handle a situation like this. ^

Do you really think she boarded with her breasts and buttocks exposed? Seriously?

C17PSGR

Or perhaps, passengers should consider how they dress and act in public, which has nothing to do with size or race.

That being said, I'm on a flight heading to the Midwest. There are a lot of scantily clad folks of all races and sizes with lots of tattoos on this flight so they didn't get the message. There's no one here in F/J wearing a suit but some normal shorts and t-shirts in the back wouldn't hurt anyone.

carlosdca

This is all speculation on your part.
Sometimes it is easier for AA (or any airline) to issue a refund or give you a few miles than going through a (pointless) investigation.

Your imagination tells you no.
Mine tells me that, no, she probably did not board with her breasts exposed. But I think it is possible that her breasts popped out a few times.

This is just a one sided story and some AA PR actions.
We'll never know what really happened.
Only that she took this picture after landing.




Offtopic: That MIA restroom looks gross. Happy to avoid MIA anytime

chollie

There was a time when people dressed for air travel the way they currently (generally) dress for dining at a 4-star restaurant. Of course, the planes and service were very different in coach back then.

Now the coach experience is more akin to McDonald's Drive-Thru and sometimes the service doesn't even rise to that level. Hardly surprising if people dress accordingly.

unionunionunion

Wow. Pretty outrageous episode on behalf of AA. Passenger gets a lot of credit for speaking out. Need to shine a light on these discriminatory practices.

AA100k

aztimm

Moderator note:

If you have a message for the moderators, either report a post or send a PM. DO NOT put this in your post. Any posts containing actions for moderators have/will be deleted.
https://www.flyertalk.com/help/rules...deratoractions


Also, we are seeing some posts turning this into a weight-issues thread.

This is the AA forum on FlyerTalk. Keep the discussion as to flying on AA, and how it impacts earning/burning miles. This could include appropriate or inappropriate clothing (within a narrow margin). There are multiple threads in Omni-PR for discussion of weight issues.


Further posts which deviate will be deleted, with possible disciplinary actions issued to those who post.


~Moderator

Gig103

Your entire post was well said, cmtlatitudes! But I've quoted a particular section that I wanted to reply to, and that's the public assurance. Depending on airline and equipment, I sometimes qualify as a COS. I used to steer as far away from Southwest as possible because for a while they had a bunch of bad press when they were requiring passengers (at the GA/FA discretion) to prove their size if two seats had not been purchased. Now that WN has changed the COS policy to be the most generous out there (free second seat, and pre-boarding since seating is open), I have flown with them far more often, almost to the point I'd use the term "regularly". But it's because I no longer have to worry about some GA challenging me in a public venue.