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# Hot air
'Hit me. Bring it on': American Airlines worker suspended after squaring up to passenger
Footage of the incident has gone viral.
https://www.facebook.com/surain.adyanthaya/videos/10155979312129018/
The confrontation occurs at around the 1.45 mark in the video. If you can’t view it, please click here.
AMERICAN AIRLINES SAYS it has grounded a flight attendant who got into a verbal confrontation with a passenger after the staff member is said to have taken a baby’s buggy away from another passenger.
Spokeswoman Leslie Scott says the airline is looking into whether the male flight attendant violently took away the buggy from the female passenger just before she boarded a flight from San Francisco to Dallas yesterday.
He has been removed from duty, while the airline “investigates the incident”.
A video taken by a passenger and posted on Facebook shows the sobbing woman holding a small child and saying, “You can’t use violence with baby”. She remains at the top of the aircraft holding the child for the duration of the video.
Later, an unidentified male passenger leaves his seat and can be heard asking if the man in question is “an employee”.
He later confronts the flight attendant, telling him, “You do that to me and I’ll knock you flat”.
The flight attendant responds with “You stay out of it” before telling him “Hit me. Bring it on”.
The footage has gone viral, with over 1.7 million views on the original Facebook post so far.
In a statement on its website, American Airlines said: “We are deeply sorry for the pain we have caused this passenger and her family and to any other customers affected by the incident.
“We are making sure all of her family’s needs are being met while she is in our care. After electing to take another flight, we are taking special care of her and her family and upgrading them to first class for the remainder of their international trip.”
The incident comes less than two weeks after video of a man being violently dragged off a United Express flight sparked widespread outrage.
With reporting from the Associated Press.
Read: United row passenger lost two front teeth, had a broken nose and concussion
Read: United Airlines: Passenger takes first legal steps, as new footage emerges
