An American Airlines employee has been suspended after a video emerged of an exchange with a passenger who came to the defence of a woman holding a baby.
According to Facebook user Surain Adyanthaya, who took the video, it started Friday afternoon when the employee grabbed the woman's stroller, "hitting her with it and just missing her child."
Flight 591 was preparing to take off from San Francisco for Dallas-Fort Worth airport.
The video shows the woman upset as she asks for the stroller back. It does not show anyone hit by anything.
It does show a male passenger a few rows away challenging the employee who allegedly took the stroller. The woman stands in the aisle crying.
The male passenger stands up and says to the airline employee, "Hey bud, you do that to me and I'll knock you flat."
The employee shakes his finger at him and says, "you stay out of this." and when the two men come face to face in the aisle says "Hit me. Hit me. Come on, bring it on."
As the employee is being lead off the plane he says "You don't know what the story is."
The male passenger says "I don't care what the story is, you almost hurt a baby."
American Airlines released a statement Saturday morning, saying they are investigating.
“What we see on this video does not reflect our values or how we care for our customers. We are deeply sorry for the pain we have caused this passenger and her family and to any other customers affected by the incident,” the airline said in a statement. “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 airline also said the employee has been removed from duty during the investigation.
“The actions of our team member captured here do not appear to reflect patience or empathy, two values necessary for customer care. In short, we are disappointed by these actions,” the statement said.
This incident comes less than two weeks after a passenger was dragged from a United Airlines plane after he refused to give up his seat on the overbooked flight.