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Over the more than 2 million miles I've flown across almost 1,200 logged flights, I've seen and experienced a lot — from rejected takeoffs to medical emergencies and even an emergency landing. However, this week, I experienced the most absurd situation I've ever seen on a flight, and it led to my removal from an international flight.
Here's what happened and how American Airlines responded.
The Situation
On Monday, June 9, my wife and I boarded American Airlines flight AA106 from New York (JFK) to London Heathrow (LHR). My traditional boarding door selfie reflected just how excited I was to board the flight.
When we got to our seats in the last row of premium economy, we found the overhead bin space in the premium economy cabin was already full — with the bin above my seat already closed. I opened this bin to find two rollerboards already taking up the entire bin. Both were lying flat on their backs, taking up far more space than if they had been standing up. So, I rotated the bags to be vertical to fit our bags. However, one bag was far too oversized for the overhead bin to close while being vertical.
With no flight attendants in the premium economy cabin — or in sight in nearby cabins — I asked the premium economy passengers around the area if this was their bag. None of the passengers claimed the bag, so I moved the bag a row back to the economy cabin to make space for premium economy passenger bags. After all, this overhead bin has a placard clearly stating “Reserved for Premium Economy”:
When the crew was making their final cabin checks, they discovered that the oversized bag wouldn't fit in the economy bins. A non-revenue passenger in premium economy quickly outed me for moving the bag, and a flight attendant asked me if I had moved it, which I confirmed. That's when I flipped on my audio recorder.
The flight attendant returned and asked: “You put yours up there? You took down the crew member's [bag] and put yours up there.”
This was the first indication that the bag was a crew member's bag, as the bag wasn't identified with anything that would indicate it was such. I explained that I'd asked the cabin if it was anyone's bag and assumed it was an economy passenger's bag since no one claimed it. So, I moved the bag from the dedicated premium economy bins.
The flight attendant responded that the bins were “first come, first served. We don't have a specific place. We can put it anywhere we want to.” Again, I explained that I wasn't aware that it was a crew member's bag as it wasn't identified as such.
I was then instructed to place my bag — a large backpack that fits under most aircraft seats but not these “MiQ” seats — in an overhead bin many rows up in business class. I insisted that I needed to have my bag nearby and suggested that they should place the crew member's bag in the business class overhead bin instead. The flight attendant headed into business class, and I assumed the situation would be resolved shortly.
Crew (Over)reaction
Instead, that flight attendant returned 45 seconds later with another flight attendant.
Female FA: “Is this your bag? Is this suitcase yours?”
Male FA: “Did somebody move my suitcase?”
Me: “I asked if anyone here had this bag… This is for premium economy only, is that correct?”
Male FA: “You moved my suitcase. You touched my suitcase and you moved it.”
Then he leaned and wagged a finger inches from my face as he barked at me: “You're outta here.” Then, he spun and hurried back toward the front of the aircraft.
A minute later, the male flight attendant returned with another male flight attendant, who would later identify himself as the purser.
Male FA: “It was him.”
Purser: “OK. Do we know who moved this? Who moved the bag?
Me: “I did. I…” [cut off]
Purser: “Why did you move the bag?”
I calmly explained the situation yet again.
Purser: “It's a shared space. He's got a specific place where his bag has to be, and you moved that. You moved another person's bag, which is a crew member's bag, which is not allowed. So go ahead and find another place for your bag.”
I've since asked several American Airlines flight attendants if crew are assigned to place their bags in a specific bin — such as the one above 18J/L. All have denied that's the case. So, it seems the purser made up the part about the crew bag needing to be in this bin.
Male FA: “No, you know what, Tim. I'll take it up front.”
Purser: “Put it in my closet.”
Male FA: “But I want you to go to bat for me.”
Purser: “You never… you never… you never move anybody's bag. Ever.”
Male FA: “You touched my bag!”
Purser: “You moved a bag. You did something wrong. You know what? I'm going to go tell the captain.”
Male FA: “I want him outta here.”
The purser barked at me to retrieve my boarding pass. As I did, the American Airlines app froze. So, he gave up and stormed off.
Removal From Aircraft
Now more than 20 minutes into this situation, an American Airlines supervisor boarded the aircraft and approached my seat. She asked me to follow her. I clarified with her that I didn't need to bring my bags or passport, and she confirmed that I could leave all of my stuff at my seat. After leading me off the aircraft and onto the jet bridge, she asked me to explain what happened from my perspective. I shared the story and informed her that I had an audio recording of the confrontation that I'd be happy to share.
Dumbfounded that she was having to get involved in this minor situation, she told me that I would not be removed from the flight for this minor misunderstanding: “My intention is not to remove you from this aircraft. Honestly speaking, and I spoke to the captain before I come to speak to you, it was an honest mistake.”
Then, she boarded the aircraft to speak with the flight crew to confirm this decision. During this discussion, my wife watched as a non-revenue passenger quickly moved into my seat.
When the gate supervisor returned, she looked exasperated. She explained that the flight attendants would refuse to fly if I weren't removed from the flight. Understanding the situation's absurdity, she assured me: “I will take care of you. I will take care of you. Because… forget about this. I get you on the next flight. I got you.”
The supervisor reboarded the flight to retrieve my bag. Then, I got the unique front-row view as the aircraft door was closed.
True to her word, the supervisor rebooked me on the next American Airlines flight to London immediately after we returned to the gate.
When I arrived at the gate for the next flight, this supervisor happily greeted me as her “friend” and apologized again about the situation. I asked if she wanted to listen to the audio recording, and we stepped aside from the gate so I could play it for her without bothering the queued passengers.
Listening to the recording seemed to confirm her suspicions. She explained how she had to remove passengers from aircraft daily, and this was the most unjust removal she had ever had to do. She offered me a seat in Flagship First Class on this next flight — with the caveat that the seat didn't recline. I politely declined and stuck with my premium economy seat.
Did American Airlines Violate International Aviation Safety Law?
Once the crew removed me and my carry-on from the flight, they were in a hurry to depart as close to on-time as possible. So the airline didn't bother to remove my checked bag from the aircraft. American Airlines representatives at the gate and baggage services confirmed that flight AA106 flew to London with my unaccompanied luggage. And when I retrieved my luggage at my final destination, no other baggage tag had been applied.
I'm certainly not an expert in international aviation law. However, International Civil Aviation Organization Annex 17 Standard 4.5.3 is clear:
4.5.3 Each Contracting State shall ensure that commercial air transport operators do not transport the baggage of persons who are not on board the aircraft unless that baggage is identified as unaccompanied and subjected to appropriate screening.
Considering the airline's rushed removal from the aircraft, the airline certainly didn't have time to subject my bag to appropriate screening. So, it appears American Airlines violated this aviation safety rule.
American Airlines has refused to comment on this, making it seem that it realizes it was in the wrong. I'll happily welcome input from anyone who's more knowledgeable on the topic.
Response from American Airlines
Shortly after being removed from the flight, I reached out to American Airlines Corporate Communications to alert them that this story would be coming and asked for comment. American Airlines representatives asked for me to delay publishing this story so that the airline could investigate the matter. However, I heard back this afternoon that American Airlines would not be commenting on this story.
I also reached out to American Airlines Customer Relations to share my complaint about this situation. I received the following response:
Please accept our sincerest apologies for the experience you had when you were removed from the flight due to a minor misunderstanding. Given that we have standards regarding the customer service our team provides, I can understand your disappointment. That's never the kind of experience we want you to have when traveling with us, and I am very sorry that we didn't provide you with a better customer service experience this time around. Please know that we take your feedback very seriously, and we appreciate the time you've taken to share your comments with us.
For compensation, American Airlines offered 5,000 bonus miles “as a tangible apology, and in hopes of restoring your confidence in us.”
Final Thoughts
After quite literally flying millions of miles, I've seen and experienced a lot of crazy situations. But this incident — being removed from an international flight for relocating an unclaimed, unmarked bag to make space in the overhead bin in my cabin — tops the list for sheer absurdity.
The reaction by the flight crew wasn’t just disproportionate — it was punitive and personal. The gate supervisor and on-duty manager made it clear that the American Airlines flight attendants and purser overreacted to this situation. I wasn't removed for breaking a rule but because a crew member took the situation personally and insisted on my removal.
In the end, I got where I needed to go. Because my original itinerary included a long layover in London, I even made my original connecting flight. But, if there was any lingering doubt about my decision to stop chasing AAdvantage elite status, this incident eliminated it.
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It’s hilarious all the bitter FA’s commenting here!
Male flight attendants can be incredibly vindictive, and their union only works to the benefit of their worst FA’s. They hate the idea of being in a customer service organization and hide behind a façade of safety so not to be held accountable.
Leave other people’s stuff alone. The arrogance and audacity to self annoint yourself the bag police.
Entitled much? You were wrong to move someone else’s bag and expect your bag to belong there. What makes your bag special? Because you have traveled more often, because you write stories?
I have a question, where are flight attendant carryons actually supposed to go? If they don’t have an assigned space, do they go wherever they prefer?
You’ve stirred up some angry FA’s in this thread! 😂
I think it’s pretty clear you were in the wrong for touching someone’s bag and not just moving your bag when they asked you to. However, anyone with common sense and no axe to grind shouldn’t agree with you getting kicked off. It was clearly an over reaction by a FA and sadly, cooler heads didn’t prevail by the other FAs.
Whoop-de-doo, one entitled human being met another entitled human being
Neither you nor the flight attendant look good here. I hope I don’t end up on a flight with either one of you.
Did anyone else notice that he was not in the bulkhead therefore had the room under the seat in front of him to put his own bag? That’s where it should have gone if the overhead bin was full! You are not entitled to not have to put a bag under the seat in front of you if that’s the only room available.
Unfortunately, the space under these MiQ seats is too small for my bag to stow under the seat. This same backpack fits under almost every other seat we’ve flown.
I think you totally overreacted as well as the flight attendant. Who made YOU the enforcing authority on overhead bin space? And do you really need to go into your bag every 5 minutes on a flight and therefore need it right above you? Take out what you really need for the flight like the rest of us. The bin above you isn’t reserved for just you. Learn how to share and stop being selfish! And I’m offended you automatically label other passengers as non-revenue. How do you know? Did you ask them or look at their airline account? Maybe they WERE revenue and waiting for an upgrade or trying to catch an earlier flight!! You make a hell of a lot of assumptions to make yourself look better than everyone else. Your attitude is what got you thrown off the flight IMO.
If you fly as much as you say you do, you’d know the overhead bins are shared space. You were wrong to move someone else’s property.
And flight attendants do have designated places for their bags. Don’t know where you got that information but you’re wrong.
Also parts of your story don’t add up.
I don’t think you should move any bag that isn’t your own.
You twisted the story to fit your narrative.
Fact: First come first serve! What makes you think everyone speaks English when you ask whose bag it was? Or maybe someone don’t want to fess up because you clearly you were going to remove the bags so you can fit yours. Where are they going to put theirs?
Fact: You moved someone’s bag to a different area of the plane even though the bag wouldn’t even fit. What do you expect if the bag falls on someone’s head or maybe they have “electronics” in there that can be damaged?
As someone who has traveled so much, you are pretty naive by placing all your ” electronics, medications, and way too many credit cards and currencies ” in a bag in the overhead, close to you or not. To me that just sounds like an excuse to claim ignorance that you insist on having the space above you, yours.
P.S. It is extremely annoying when someone get on the plane and start asking to whom the bag above them belongs to like they are some entitled big shot. Nobody needs to answer or look at you.
American Airlines customer service from the flight attendants has really gone downhill.
I get the feeling there was a sense of entitlement on your part….
Knowing this, the next time I fly it’ll never be on an American airline so I am boycotting American Airlines because of their lack of knowledge. 👎
You deserved to be booted off the flight. Don’t touch other people’s stuff. You should have found space somewhere else, even if it was behind you. You’re entitled and part of the problem of today’s clueless flyers.
Comments aren’t going how you expected huh? Everyone says you were wrong because you were
Read much? Not even close to everyone is saying this. The FAs were wrong because of their power tripping, out of control, childish behavior. Period, end of story.
You were wrong. Could have easily called a FA over but you choose to touch someone’s belongings. Doesn’t matter if you”asked the cabin”. YOU don’t touch other people’s things
Yep agreed. I fully acknowledge it was a frustration-fueled mistake and owned up to it throughout the situation.
American airlines is atrocious
They are a septic boil on the ass of the One World alliance.
They deserve to go bust
You should had NEVER touch a luggage that’s NOT belong to you, flying in premium economy or first class for that matter give you that right,!!
Is this passenger head life-saving medications in his carry-on bag, this could have been disaster! Is this really a true story? If so, there’s a lawsuit here…
I think your behavior was arrogant and entitled enough where I was pretty happy to read that they booted you. I bet the lowly “non-revenue” passengers you keep referring to were also glad to see you go. Humble yourself.
Another in a long line of stories that didn’t happen.
Everything in your story checks out, but I would never put any bag with such valuables in overhead. That kind of bag stays under the seat in front of me, always visible and with tactile contact with my foot. Period.
+1
You were wrong to move someone else’s bag. Period.
If it were a passenger’s bag, it could have ended in heated exchange of words or worse, fists!!
You are a moron. Have you learnt nothing after flying 2m miles like you claimed?
You pissed off the FA and yes, of course they would get back at you.
You should never have touched the bag. You should have apologized to the male flight attendant and said you didn’t know. Removing you was a power trip and way overboard. No one wins in this instance.
Author here: Yep totally agreed on all points.
This post would have gone better if you started off admitting you shouldn’t have moved someone’s bag. Also was the descriptor “non-revenue passenger” necessary? I can understand your frustration but your entitlement in this situation is also disappointing. This is a situation where both sides are in the wrong. No one in their right mind would agree with the flight attendants reaction. But one could also argue this wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t move someone else’s bag. Imagine you were in Business class and at the end of the flight you discovered your bag was in economy.
You were wrong to move someone else’s bag. Period.
I agree. Yet, do you think that justifies the flight attendant refusing to work the flight if I wasn’t removed?
No, but if you defused to walk to First Class to get you “medications”, then yes. Who the F do you think you’re fooling?
Well, it depends if the interaction you described is accurate. Recollections may vary.
another bitter, angry flight attendant. Go get another job if you’re so miserable.
I have definitely moved someone’s bag before. However, I admit that I am entitled asshole for doing so, and I would not be surprised if there was condemnation for it. You should have expected the same. Moving someone’s bag yourself to economy is a dick move. How are they gonna find their bag? You wait for a flight attendant and explain the situation. Getting kicked off the flight is harsh, but man you have to be stupid to argue with a flight attendant. That goes right up there with arguing about a pilot flying non-rev in biz/first class. These people are keeping you safe on a flying metal death trap in the sky, show some remorse.
Exactly where in the article did he “argue” with a flight attendant? Answer: he didn’t.
most of the buzzards attacking JT are flight attendants.
Excellent story and reporting, JT. Highly unprofessional and inappropriate behavior by the FAs, and they should be disciplined without question. The downward trend of AA’s customer service is lamentable, if not unsurprising. That FAs can act like obstinate children and essentially pocket veto the decision of a supervisor and the captain is ridiculous. Kudos to the gate supervisor, though.
I’ve lost count of how many flights I’ve been on where I sat in the last row of the plane. Nearly every time, by the time I made it to my seat, despite often being one of the first couple dozen to board the craft, every bin for a good 10 rows was already full, and passengers were sitting halfway down the plane with empty bins above them. It’s then a nightmare to have an FA put my bag in the middle of the plane, and then somehow have to retrieve it at the end of the flight against the entire plane trying to disembark past me.
The moral of this story is that the handling of overhead bins is just nuts in the first place. People are putting their personal items that should go under the seat into the overhead bin, airlines are allowing more carry-on luggage than the craft has room for, etc. Sure, some parts of the world would jail you for moving something that doesn’t belong to you, while other places would come down like a ton of bricks on a hospitality professional who took away a storage space assigned to a guest.
I think we can all agree that tensions are often high in general. Ultimately, airlines provide a vital service and fulfill our human right to free movement. When things go wrong, it’s not a matter of who’s at fault, but just a lack of understanding, and usually an unknown third factor exacerbating the situation.
Respectfully, I think you were in the wrong and shouldn’t move other people’s bags without their permission.
Agreed that it was an exhaustion-induced mistake. But that does justify the crew’s reaction and refusing to fly if I’m not thrown off?
No, I don’t think you should’ve been thrown off the flight if this is exactly how it went down. The male FA got his panties twisted and wasn’t letting go. Someone should’ve calmed him down, but instead joined in on his crusade. However, one thing that stuck with me and I believe compounded in getting you kicked off: you should’ve moved your bag to J when they said to. The “insisted” part screams entitled. Remove the items from your bag you needed and put them in your wife’s purse or whatever, but nothing was going to happen to your stuff.
Did they give you any official reason ie flight attendant felt unsafe, not following direction?
who has final say, purser or captain ir can any flight attendant kick you off for any reason?
They did not give any official reason. That’s part of why I agreed to hold publishing this story: I was hopeful that AA HQ would have some sort of reason to share.
The captain has the final call in this situation.
There is more to this story, it’s not about the bag.. Why did he need the purser’s support on this? Would the same thing have happened if you were a young female? Crew should not be able to arbitrarily remove people from flights
The flight attendants extorted the airline, they backed up their loser friend and refused to fly if the author wasn’t removed.
This is why I don’t fly American Airlines and Never will. BTW United is just as bad.
Its simple. Don’t ever touch someone else’s bags. Period. JT knows better.
Good. Don’t move other people’s stuff.
It was a ridiculous over reaction. That being said, NEVER touch or move somebody else’s stuff. To me, that is a bit of an egregious assumption that screams “self entitled”. The FAs over reacted for whatever reason….. and after years of passenger abuse, the pendulum of FA response has, in some cases, swung way to far the wrong way.
But don’t touch other people’s stuff.
Wish there were some way to give priority to those seated in the row directly under the overhead bin to store their carry-on.
What about in Economy where you have 6+ people in that row? How will they fit 6 pieces of carry-on directly above them without infringing on the 6+ people in the row directly behind and in front of them? The length of any seat on a plane isn’t wide enough to store the bags of everyone in that row. That’s physically impossible.
I’ve never moved someone’s bag to another bin but this overreaction by the AA purser and FA is absurd. If it were me, I’d put out a few feelers to law firms to see if this is worth a case.
Good of you also not accepting the first class seat on the rebooked flight.
I’m sorry, but I’m with AA on this one.
“You never move anybody’s bag. Ever.”
Do you think doing so justifies a crew member refusing to fly if the paying passenger isn’t offloaded?
How long after you started recording the audio did you tell them that you were recording them?
I didn’t tell the crew that I was recording them. There is no requirement to do so, and this audio proves that I didn’t raise my voice and the crew’s overreaction. Both the gate supervisor and American Airlines Corporate Communications have been very interested to listen to exactly what happened. Without the recording, it would be the crew’s word vs. mine.
How did you record them and how did you do it so fast and discreetly? In these he said/she said situations, recording is your only savior. It’s hard to take photos discreetly. I was once in a precarious situation, and I took photos discreetly. Without them, I had no proof.
I have an audio recording app on my phone that I was able to quickly trigger. I didn’t try to take any photos or video recordings.
this situation is absolutely unacceptable, sounds like the FA had his personal vendetta against you, plus the fact that the bag was unaccompanied. Is it possible to sue the company ? would you do it ?
This power trip shows that senior FA’s aren’t better and are worse than junior FA’s. After about 5 years of experience, FA pay should be capped. With the savings, junior FA pay should be increased.
Clearly the male FA was holding a grudge against you. It is simply amazing and shocking that he could behave like that towards a passenger without being punished, the finger, the words he used…
I am clearly hoping that the story will not end with this stupid compensation
You moved someone else’s bag—how are they supposed to find it? I’d be seriously upset if that happened to me.
So sorry for this JT. However not totally shocked regarding AA FAs.
Personally, I wouldn’t have removed someone else’s bag from the bin, but this is an insane overreaction. The crew member should at least be seriously reprimanded if not fired, in my opinion. Though, unfortunately, unions usually protect members who do stupid stuff like this. People who power trip like this have no business being crew members. They either need to learn to get their temper under control ASAP or they should be removed from duty.
And only 5,000 miles for this is absurd.
This is ridiculous. AA has become such a laughable airlines. I will continue to try and avoid them at all costs. I have become much more of a fan of Delta in the past year anyways. AA, no thanks.
I’m really sorry. This is absolutely unacceptable. As an EP with nearly a million, million miller miles this is appalling. American should reprimand the crew immediately. This type of behavior from someone on a power trip is disturbing and these individuals have no business being frontline customer facing employees. If you had financial damages I’d file a suite just to prove a point (that’s the lawyer in me speaking). JT you did nothing wrong
That guy was an asshole and should be fired. American Airlines personnel are the worst in the industry.
I think that it is inappropriate for the flight crew to fly with bags that do not fit in the bins. This was an international flight. If that bag did not fit in the bin properly on that flight, it isn’t going to fit on any of the other planes either. That bag should have been checked.
Insane power trip by crew; insanely inadequate follow up.
Wow what an unnecessary overreaction. Not flying with your wife should have been worth more than 5,000 miles, in my opinion.
Seems like it all happened because y
Assuming you moved the bag knowing it was oversized and that the bin wouldn’t close, it was kind of a d*ck move. But there’s no question you shouldn’t have been kicked off the flight for it.
The fact that an F/A can insist you be removed from a flight because you had the audacity to move a bag that you didn’t know belonged to a crew member is insane. Talk about a power trip. And the fact that AA is just ok with that happening.
Oh I’m pretty sure AA corporate isn’t ok with this situation or they would have defended it when given multiple days to comment.
WOW! Great story and even better storytelling. JT, you had me at “Then he leaned and wagged a finger inches from my face as he barked at me: “You’re outta here.” Then, he spun and hurried back toward the front of the aircraft.”
You can picture this.
These employees are out of control. If he was deadheading that is one thing. But if truly non-revving on a cheap ticket across the pond to go hang out in the UK for a few days and then having the balls to complain about THIS – that’s truly out of line. Hope he gets what he deserves for being so entitled.
Thank you for the amazing read!
Thanks! With AA asking for me to delay publishing this story, I had plenty of time to listen back to the recordings to make sure I got it all 100% right.
One clarification though: The moved bag turned out to belong to one of the working crew, not a deadheading or non-rev passenger.
Why not release the full recordings and transcript of what you said?
Seems suspicious that you’re ok with sharing the crew members words, but you paraphrase you’re own.
If you’re so in the right, then you should have no problem doing so.
I would also like to hear your recording.
The reaction definitely seems out of proportion, and you had a right to be unhappy about it. However, I would never, ever, ever, ever, move somebody’s bag like that without having the flight attendant’s approval. Like never, ever, ever.
I agree that was my mistake. But I was pretty frustrated to board and find zero overhead bin space in PE. With no FAs in the cabin or in sight, I figured it was an economy pax bag who had just picked the first overhead bin they could find.
Board earlier then. Don’t expect overhead space to be there if you’re not one of the first to board in your cabin. Also, keep your currency and medication in your backpack so you can keep it under the seat in front of you. Why would you ever put it in an overhead bin?
Dude, this is wild. Insane overreaction.