[VPenaHamel]

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.