Threatened with arrest for changing seats
 

My daughter and I were threatened with arrest for simply changing seats; this was after the seat belt sign was extinguished on an AA domestic flight from Boston to Miami on Saturday March 17, 2012.

Before that, my wife was lied to by one of the flight attendants when he told her that all seats were taken. He further went on to say that the passengers sitting in the last row were "up forward stowing their carry-on".

Fact is that the plane departed Boston with five empty seats in the last row which is where my wife wanted to sit alongside our daughter and me...she hates flying alone.

I sent a letter to Tom Horton, AA's CEO, who never personally replied.

Instead he had an employee in the Customer Relations department respond with a lame apology; but not before he warned me that “flight attendants are the authority in the passenger cabins and it is important to remain compliant with their directives at all times”.

Fact is that the senior flight attendant ABUSED her authority when she ordered my daughter and me back to our seats..."otherwise the captain will divert, land the plane and you and your daughter will be arrested for failing to comply with a cabin crew order".

Of course, in complete fear that we would be arrested, my daughter and I promptly went back to our assigned seats and the flight continued on to Miami.

I have asked AA for a full refund but regretfully they have categorically refused to do so. This left us no choice but to go public with our story.

My family and I no longer fly AA and we encourage other consumers to do the same thing.

You want a full refund because the flight attendant told you to go back to your assigned seats? And, you're posting this a year and half after the incident? Sumpin ain't smellin right.

Seat change is not up to you, but to the cabin crew to decide, perhaps youve leaned a leason?

Having power, but being too stupid to know how to use it is so prevalent in the airline industry, it is developing into a serious problem. The issue here isn't that the FA didn't have the authority to do what she did, it was that she abused that authority. These skynazis need to be held to account.

A refund is over the top, but a gesture of some remorse would have been nice.

Abuse of authority
 

Jim,

Thanks for your comment.

I'm so glad to see that you hit the nail on the head...

Indeed, my family and I were the victims of an abuse of authority at the hands of the AA flight crew.

Thus the reason why I have not and will not accepted a lame apology from an mid or low level employee at AA's Customer Relations department.

BRegards.