Source: Ivan Sviatkovskyi / EyeEm / Getty
American Airlines is under scrutiny after a video of a Black couple and their seven-week-old daughter being kicked off a flight last week by unprofessional staff members has been circling the web.
On Dec. 4, Allan Ali, his partner and their seven-week-old baby were abruptly asked to get off of their 1 p.m. flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Philidelphia, Pennsylvania — where they live.
The mother, who goes by Ms. Kam on social media, calmly tried to explain a misunderstanding she had with another staff member on the plane to a flight attendant in now viral-footage Allan has shared on Instagram.
RELATED CONTENT: “COVID-19 Has Made Traveling With Small Children Even More Stressful, Here’s How To Help Your Tot Navigate Our New Normal”
While the details are still slightly unclear, it seems as though the initial flight attendant had a rude attitude as she asked the mother — who had the newborn on her lap — and the father to move from their aisle so another passenger could get to their seat.
Even though the mother seemingly made an effort to follow through with the request, the flight attendant dubbed Ms. Kam as an “aggressive” passenger.
Once other staff members got involved in Ms. Kam and the unidentified flight attendant’s misunderstanding, things quickly escalated and the family was asked to get off of the plane before it took off.
At one point, a white male flight attendant with shoulder-length light blondish hair violently reached over Ms. Kam and the newborn and knocked Allan’s phone out of his hand in an attempt to prevent the father from recording the events that took place.
“I just want this to be known, that she has a newborn [and] you’re putting her off the plane due to the negligence and unprofessionalism of one of your staff members,” Allan says to two of the American Airlines staff members as the incident took place.
“If we are treated unfairly, should we take this? We paid to be on this flight,” he continued. “This is my seven-week-old daughter being mistreated. If you had any compassion or empathy or decency…”
It was disturbing to watch as many other passengers looked face forward and kept silent as the family’s ordeal with the American Airlines crew happened.
“Somebody who saw this or heard this, I hope you speak up, because it’s wrong,” Allan is heard expressing to fellow passengers in the footage.
As his wife began to cry and a flight attendant removed their luggage from the overhead compartment, Allan redirected his words to the male flight attendant who knocked down his phone and said the staff member should be ashamed.
“We’re not fools, we’re educated,” Allan said of he and Ms. Kam’s backgrounds. ” Masters degrees, working hard. We didn’t come here for conflict –”
As Allan was talking in the video, the male staff member is heard saying, “Oh please,” — clearly being dismissive of the horrible disrespect the family was subjected to.
Toward the end of the clip, Allan seemingly pointed to the flight attendant with whom his wife had the initial misunderstanding.
The couple is seeking justice and answers from American Airlines regarding the incident. In the footage Allan took, the father stated he planned to take legal action against the airline over his family’s mistreatment.
American Airlines has yet to formally acknowledge the family’s experience, despite clips of this incident increasingly gaining traction on social media. The family ended up catching the 11 p.m. flight to Philly that day — booked by the airline, according to sources who spoke with TMZ.
The outlet additionally shared that a spokesperson for American Airlines said, “We are investigating the incident and working to understand what took place.”
In another clip, taken after the couple was forced off the plane and back in the airport, Ms. Kam explained more about how the incident initially got started. Hear the story in her own words down below — we’ll update you as this story progresses.
RELATED CONTENT: “Frontier Airlines Accused Black Woman Of Human Trafficking While Traveling With 4-Year-Old White Sister”
