[Schatze4U]

A recent experience I had with American Airlines has left me, angry, dumbfounded and frankly worried about airline safety, after the unwarranted treatment I received from flight attendant Ms. Santana and gate attendant Junius Lyons.

I boarded American Airlines Flight 4594 from Washington DC Reagan National to Boston this past Christmas Eve. This was one of the smaller jet aircraft with only three seats across a row, one seat on one side and two seats on the other side of the aisle. My seat, 1A, was on the single-seat side next to the bulkhead. As anyone who as traveled in the bulkhead row well knows, there is no under-seat room for items in this row. Also, since the overhead luggage compartments were completely full, there was no place to stow my purse (my only other bag was checked at the gate). I asked the flight attendant, whose name is Ms Santana, if I could put my purse in the closet during take-off, as I have often done in the past under similar circumstances. She said absolutely not, and told me to place my purse under my seat- behind the bar - if that was OK with the person behind me. I admit that I did not ask that person but went ahead and set the purse under my seat. As they did not complain I assumed that this was not a problem. After the flight attendant came back from checking other passengers she scolded me, saying my purse wasn't placed right. I told her it was placed as she had told me. I was not trying to be confrontational, I just indicated that I was in fact following her earlier instructions. Nevertheless, she turned her back to me and ordered the gate attendant to "get her off my plane." When I asked her what I did wrong she threatened to have me arrested if I didn't immediately comply.

I have flown all over the world and have never experienced or seen such an event! My chief reaction rather than being outraged has been incredulity. Also of note is the fact that my checked bag was not removed from the plane, in violation of FAA regulations, which require checked baggage to be removed if a passenger leaves an aircraft (an anti-terrorist thing).

When I spoke with Ms Tamara Sandberg, a supervisor with American, she offered to help me and secured a ticket on the next flight to Boston. However, when I tried to board the flight the gate agent, Junius Lyons, said my ticket was invalid and would not let me board. I had the distinct impression that he was punishing me for my earlier indiscretion. I gave him Ms Sandburgs name and told him she had issued the ticket. Mr Lyons stated he didn't care. He told me to step aside and that I was his last priority to board. He let everyone board the plane but me and caused me to miss this flight as well. In a subsequent conversation with another American flight attendant, a Mr Eisenberg who was with Ms Sandberg when she issued the ticket, I was told that the ticket was indeed correct. The net result was that after arriving at the airport at 2pm for a 3:40 flight I was finally able to board a flight that night at 10pm (part of this was a 2-hour weather delay).

As I already indicated, my luggage remained on the original flight despite FAA regulations. I did receive a phone call from security individuals in Boston indicating that I needed to go to the security office to retrieve my baggage. Luckily they decided to streamline this process and a gate official was waiting for me at the gate to check me out and deliver my other bag.

This entire episode was absurd and I believe needs looking into. A flight attendant should not have the power to remove someone from an aircraft over a small purse which was correctly placed. I fly often and I have always been under the impression that the threshold for removal from an aircraft was significantly higher than simply annoying a flight attendant.

Schatze4U