An American Airlines employee has been removed from duty after an ugly clash over a baby’s stroller in San Francisco.
A passenger who uploaded video of the aftermath of the incident said a mother had been struck with the stroller as it was forcibly removed by the employee.
The video shows the employee saying, “Hit me! Come on, bring it on”, when challenged by another male passenger.
In a statement, American Airlines said it was “deeply sorry for the pain we have caused” the woman passenger and her family.
The American Airlines incident took place at San Francisco International Airport as flight 591 prepared to take off for Dallas/Fort Worth.
Passenger Surain Adyanthaya, who posted the video to Facebook, said that preceding the footage the employee had “violently” taken the stroller from the mother, hitting her and narrowly missing her baby.
The footage shows the mother clearly distraught as other employees and passengers try to intervene.
One male passenger demands the name of the employee involved and when a man dressed in American Airlines uniform enters the plane, the passenger tells him: “Hey, bud, you do that to me and I’ll knock you flat.”
The employee confronts the passenger, telling him to “stay out of this”, then saying: “Hit me! Come on, bring it on.”
He adds: “You don’t even know what the story is.”
The passenger replies: “I don’t care what the story is. You almost hurt a baby.”
American Airlines said in its statement: “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 it was “making sure all of her family’s needs are being met while she is in our care”.
American Airlines upgraded the woman and her family to first class when she took another flight to Dallas.
He told the Albuquerque Journal: “They landed without incident, taxied to the gate and were met by medical personnel.”
None of the passengers was injured.
American Airlines confirmed the pilot’s identity as first officer William “Mike” Grubbs.
Media quoted airline spokeswoman Polly Tracey as saying: “We’re taking care of first officer Grubbs’ family and colleagues and our thoughts and prayers are with them during this time.”
Three American airlines – Delta, United and American Airlines – have banned the shipment of big-game trophies on flights after the illegal killing of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe.
They would no longer transport lion, rhinoceros, leopard, elephant or buffalo remains, the airlines announced.
The airlines have not, however, given official reasons for their announcements.
Delta flies direct to a number of African cities and was subjected to an online petition to ban such shipments.
American Airlines and United fly to fewer sub-Saharan cities than Delta, but United said in a tweet its decision to stop carrying trophies was “effective immediately”.
United spokesman Charles Hobart said: “We felt it made sense to do so.”
Cecil the lion was shot illegally in July by American dentist Walter Palmer of Minnesota. Zimbabwe is seeking his extradition and that of a doctor from Pennsylvania, named as Jan Casimir Seski, who is suspected of killing another lion in April.
Walter Palmer is believed to have paid about $50,000 to hunt Cecil, a major tourist attraction in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park.
He says he thought the hunt was legal and was unaware Cecil was protected, but the killing triggered a huge online backlash.
Delta would not answer questions from journalists as to why it made its decision on August 3, nor would it detail how many hunting trophies it has transported in recent years.
“Effective immediately, Delta will officially ban shipment of all lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo trophies worldwide as freight,” Delta said in a brief statement.
Its announcement came as several other airlines indicated that they are – or soon will be – stopping the transport of all trophy-hunting kills.
As recently as May, Delta said it would continue to allow such shipments.
Dozens of American Airlines planes have been grounded by a faulty iPad application.
The glitch caused iPad software – used by the planes’ pilots and co-pilots for viewing flight plans – to stop working.
AA’s cockpits went “paperless” in 2013 to save its staff having to lug heavy paperwork on board. The company estimated the move would save it more than $1.2 million in fuel every year.
American Airlines said that it had now found a fix for the problem.
A spokesman for the carrier said: “We experienced technical issues with an application installed on some pilot iPads.”
“This issue was with the third-party application, not the iPad, and caused some departure delays last night and this morning.
“Our pilots have been able to address the issue by downloading the application again at the gate prior to take-off and, as a back-up, are able to rely on paper charts they can obtain at the airport.
“We apologize for the inconvenience to our customers.”
AA pilots use an app called FliteDeck, which is made by the Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen.
A spokesman for Jeppesen provided further detail.
“The issue was caused by a duplicate chart for Reagan National Airport in American’s chart database,” said Mike Pound.
“The app could not reconcile the duplicate, causing it to shut down.
“We were able to remedy the situation quickly, and instruct pilots to uninstall and reinstall the app.
“Until the chart database is updated, AA pilots flying to or from National will use PDF [portable document format] images of the chart, outside of the app.”
American Airlines is not the only carrier whose pilots and cabin crew have switched from using physical charts and paper manuals to tablets.
United Airlines was also an early adopter of iPads, while Delta has opted for Microsoft’s Surface tablets instead.
British Airways and Ryanair are among others still in the process of shifting to so-called Electronic Flight Bag-based systems.
In addition to saving on fuel costs, it is also suggested that such kit reduces flight preparation time, reduces the likelihood of injuries and helps staff by offering real-time updates.
American Airlines Chairman and CEO Doug Parker has decided to give up his cash salary and annual bonuses opting to be paid entirely in shares.
Doug Parker, 53, was paid more than $12 million last year, 40% of which was in cash, according to regulatory filings.
Google chief Larry Page, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Kinder Morgan’s Rich Kinder are also paid solely in shares.
“I believe this is the right way for my compensation to be set – at risk, based entirely on the results achieved, and in the same currency that our shareholders receive,” Doug Parker said in a letter to employees.
Photo Reuters
Under the new deal, 54% of Doug Parker’s payout will tied to performance targets.
Doug Parker has helped transform American Airlines into one of the country’s most successful companies.
Shares of American Airlines have more than doubled in value since the company merged with rival US Airways in 2013.
Both carriers had undergone bankruptcy but their combination has since created the world’s largest airline company based on passenger traffic.
American Airlines also posted a record profit of $2.9 billion in 2014, helped by cheaper fuel prices and reduced competition.
American Airlines has announced it is cutting almost 80% of its flights to Venezuela from next month.
From July 2, American Airlines will operate only 10 flights per week instead of the current 48.
The move comes as part of a continuing dispute over the repatriation of revenue due to tight currency controls in the oil-rich country.
A number of airlines have already suspended or reduced the number of flights to Venezuela.
“Since we are owed a substantial outstanding amount [$750 million to March 2014] and have been unable to reach resolution on the debt, we will significantly reduce our flights to the country after 1 July,” the airline said in a statement.
American Airlines is cutting almost 80 percent of its flights to Venezuela
American Airlines said it would only fly to Venezuela from Miami, suspending its flights from New York, Dallas and Puerto Rico.
Tight foreign currency controls make it difficult for foreign airlines to repatriate money from ticket sales in Venezuela.
The authorities have restricted access to dollars and want to make them more expensive to purchase, which may lead to losses for companies that are still waiting for cash from as far back as 2012.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates Venezuela is delaying payment of $4 billion.
American Airlines is the largest foreign carrier serving Venezuela.
Air Canada has suspended service citing security concerns, while others like Lufthansa and Copa Airlines have reduced the number of tickets made available in local currency.
In January, Ecuadorean airline Tame also suspended flights to Venezuela, demanding $43 million in overdue payments for tickets.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said at the time that airlines that reduced their operations in Venezuela would face “severe measures”.
“The company that leaves the country will not return while we hold power,” he said.
Last month, the Venezuelan government announced a deal with six Latin American airlines that would allow them to repatriate revenue from sales in 2012 and 2013.
Strict controls over foreign exchange were first imposed in 2003, following a troubled year which saw a coup against then-President Hugo Chavez.
Jay Leno is being sued by former American Airlines flight attendant Louann Giambattista, who claims that she was falsely accused of bestiality during a segment of “Woulda, Coulda Shoulda” on NBC’s The Tonight Show.
In the complaint – filed in New York Supreme Court – Louann Giambattista claims that a July 2013 episode of The Tonight Show picked up a story about her supposedly smuggling her pet rat onto work flights in her underwear and/or pantyhose, Courthouse News Service reported.
Louann Giambattista says that the story was the result of an alleged “relentless campaign of discrimination” by American Airlines.
Jay Leno is being sued by former American Airlines flight attendant Louann Giambattista
According to the suit: “Leno and his guests falsely accused Ms. Giambattista of engaging in s**ual relations with a rat,” primarily via the comments made by the panelists on the “Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda” segment.
Among the comments: “[If] I were one of those rats, I would’ve been very upset. I prefer not to sit in cooch.”
Since the segment aired, Louann Giambattista claims she and her husband, Steven Goldring, have become “pariahs in their own community, among their long-standing group of friends, among their co-workers and even among family”.
Even worse, Louann Giambattista and Steven Goldring’s intimate life has suffered, because: “Every time he looks at her he thinks of Defendant Leno and the heinous segment depicting her as a s**ual deviant.”
Louann Giambattista, who’s also suing American Airlines in a separate complaint, is seeking unspecified damages.
The Department of Justice has filed an anti-trust case to block the merger of American Airlines and US Airways.
The $11 billion deal, which would form the world’s largest airline, was backed by a federal judge in March and has been approved by the European Union.
The complaint says customers would see a price rise as the merger would “substantially lessen competition” in the domestic market.
US Airways boss Doug Parker said the company would fight the injunction.
“We are extremely disappointed in this action and believe the DOJ [Department of Justice] is wrong in its assessment,” Doug Parker said in a letter to employees.
The District of Columbia and six US states and have joined the legal action: Texas, where American Airlines is headquartered, Arizona, where US Airways is based, Florida, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia.
American Airlines and US Airways said that in light of the justice department’s action they no longer expected the merger to close by the end of 2013, but that they remained “hopeful” litigation would be over by year’s end.
The Department of Justice has filed an anti-trust case to block the merger of American Airlines and US Airways
Shares in both companies fell, along with the stock prices of other airlines, as news of the anti-trust case hit the markets on Tuesday.
“By challenging this merger, the Department of Justice is saying that the American people deserve better,” US Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
“This transaction would result in consumers paying the price – in higher air fares, higher fees and fewer choices.”
The lawsuit also cites direct competition between the airlines on nonstop routes worth about $2 billion in annual revenues.
In one example, the complaint says the newly merged company would take up 69% of flights out of Washington’s Reagan National Airport and 63% of nonstop routes out of the airport.
The airlines had previously conceded take-off and landing slots at airports in Philadelphia and London in order to win EU approval last week.
When the deal was announced in February, Senate Commerce Committee chairman Jay Rockefeller also expressed concern that consumers would lose.
American Airlines has been in bankruptcy protection since November 2011, but US Airways has been profitable in recent years.
The two combined airlines would have 6,700 daily flights and annual revenue of roughly $40 billion.
The justice department complaint argues the two companies do not need to merge to continue to be competitive, and that American Airlines is likely to exit bankruptcy as a “vigorous competitor”.
The department also cited American Airlines’ purchase two years ago of 460 new planes, said to be the largest such order in industry history.
If the merger continues, there will be only three major US airlines, which the justice department alleges “increasingly prefer tacit coordination over full-throated competition”.
Some industry analysts suggest that American Airlines and US Airways’ ability to compete without a merger is not as strong as the department argues.
American Airlines has decided to ground all flights across the US due to a fault with its computerized reservation system.
The airline company said that all departures would be halted until at least 17:00 ET on Tuesday, and that it was working “to resolve this issue as quickly as we can”.
American Airlines has decided to ground all flights across the US due to a fault with its computerized reservation system
American Airlines says it will offer refunds and allow passengers to change flights for free.
About 900 flights are said to have been affected.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates civil aviation in the US, confirmed that American Airlines had asked to halt its flights while the problem was rectified.
“Any American plane sitting on the ground anywhere in the US won’t be taking off,” said FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford.
American Airlines and US Airways are to announce their official merge to become the world’s biggest airline after the boards of both companies approved the deal late Wednesday.
The new carrier will keep the American Airlines name but will be run by US Airways CEO Doug Parker. American Airline’s CEO Tom Horton will serve as chairman of the new company until mid-2014.
The merger caps a turbulent period of bankruptcies and consolidation that will leave the U.S. airline industry dominated by four big carriers – American, United, Delta and Southwest.
Together the four companies will control almost 75% of U.S. airline traffic.
The deal has been in the works since August, when creditors forced American to consider a merger rather than remain independent.
American has been restructuring under bankruptcy protection since late 2011. Creditors and possibly the shareholders of AMR, American Airline’s parent company, will own 72% of the stock, and US Airways Group Inc. shareholders will get the rest.
A formal announcement is expected Thursday morning.
Travelers on American and US Airways won’t notice immediate changes.
It likely will be months before the frequent-flier programs are merged, and possibly years before the two airlines are fully combined.
When that happens, American’s presence will grow in key East Coast markets including New York’s LaGuardia Airport and Washington’s Reagan National Airport.
The merger will add US Airways hubs in Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix to American’s in Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, Miami, New York and Los Angeles.
US Airways would boost American’s service to Europe and the Latin America-Caribbean market but wouldn’t fix American’s weakness on routes to Asia.
American Airlines and US Airways are to announce their official merge to become the world’s biggest airline after the boards of both companies approved the deal late Wednesday
Just five years ago, American was the world’s biggest airline.
It boasted a history reaching back 80 years to the beginning of air travel. It had popularized the frequent-flier program and developed the modern system of pricing airline tickets to match demand.
But years of heavy losses drove American and parent AMR Corp. into bankruptcy protection in late 2011. The company blamed bloated labor costs; its unions accused executives of mismanagement.
The merger is a stunning achievement for Doug Parker and his management team at US Airways, based in Tempe, Arizona.
Just a few years ago, they were running a mid-sized carrier called America West Airlines when they bought the old US Airways out of bankruptcy.
Doug Parker’s airline is only half the size of American and is less familiar around the world, but he prevailed by driving a wedge between American’s management and its union workers and by convincing American’s creditors that a merger made business sense.
Despite its smaller size, US Airways has prospered in the last several years, earning a record profit of $637 million last year.
American Airlines’ Tom Horton professed no interest in thinking about a merger until his company was out of bankruptcy court, but his creditors pressured him to reconsider.
American Airlines lost more than $12 billion between 2001 and 2010.
It has lost another $2.8 billion since it filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2011 – a period in which US Airways earned about $650 million. Some analysts and creditors called for new management at American Airlines.
Bob Herbst, a financial analyst who studies airlines, said American Airlines has failed to adapt to changes in the industry since consolidation began in the middle of the last decade. He said American Airlines was fixated on gaining market share rather than on profitability.
Alec Baldwin was thrown off an American Airlines flight for playing an iPhone game, according to some reports.
Alec Baldwin, 53, was spotted sitting at LAX airport, in the midst of what appeared to be an intense telephone conversation, after his trip back to New York had been cut short.
The 30 Rock star was then seen leaving an American Airline ticket counter after re-booking another flight home.
The ordeal had seemingly raised Alec Baldwin‘s temperature, as he appeared to have sweat stains on his T-shirt.
Alec Baldwin was thrown off an American Airlines flight for playing an iPhone game
Alec Baldwin’s obsession with a Scrabble-inspired iPhone game got him “reamed” out on an earlier AA flight yesterday.
After a flurry of reports hit Twitter, Alec Baldwin took to his own account to give his version of yesterday events.
“Flight attendant on American reamed me out 4 playing WORDS W FRIENDS while we sat at the gate, not moving,” Alec Baldwin tweeted yesterday afternoon, along with the hashtag, “#nowonderamericaairisbankrupt”
Before adding: “#theresalwaysunited”
Alec Baldwin then updated his flight status, writing: “Now on the 3 o’clock American flight. The flight attendants already look…..smarter.”
Alec Baldwin took to his own Twitter account to give his version of AA events
The actor later tweeted that he was finally on his way, with a dash of satirical humour.
“#theresalwaysunited Last flight w American. Where retired Catholic school gym teachers from the 1950’s find jobs as flight attendants,” Alec Baldwin wrote.
Alec Baldwin was finally arrived at JFK in the evening, after what had this time appeared to be a drama-free trip home.
TMZ reports that Alec Baldwin got kicked off his earlier flight when the actor “slammed” the bathroom door so loudly the captain had to get involved.
According to passengers, after the confrontation over his iPhone, Alec Baldwin got up to go to the bathroom and angrily slammed the lavatory door and it was so loud the captain called back to flight attendants to find out what was happening.
That’s when the captain himself made the call to have Alec Baldwin removed.
Earlier, author Grant Cardone tweeted that he saw Alec Baldwin getting kicked off, and said he was “told by an AA authority” that the actor was booted because he “Didn’t have his Capitol One card and [was] Abusive to attendant.”
Alec Baldwin appears in commercials for Capitol One credit cards.
The actor has allowed his temper get the better of him in the past.
In 2007, Alec Baldwin horrendously left a voice mail for his young daughter calling her a “rude, thoughtless little pig”.
He later apologized and wrote a book inspired by the incident.
The gossip started when Michael J. Wolf, Founder and Managing Director at www.activate.com, tweeted:
“On an AA flight at LAX. Alec Baldwin removed from the plane We had to go back to the gate. Terrible that everyone had to wait”
One joked: “Alec Baldwin should never be allowed to fly quite frankly. His liberal politics represent a clear and present danger to the U.S.”
Before another added: “I was on the plane and yes Alec Baldwin was kicked off for grabbing 2 bags of peanuts and that is clearly an FAA violation. He may do time.”
Dawn Wilcox, a disabled army veteran was forced to wet herself and sit in her own urine for hours after airline staff ignored her pleas to use the bathroom.
Dawn Wilcox, a veteran soldier from Killeen,Texas, is wheelchair bound after an injury while serving in the forces.
The woman says American Airlines flight stewards delayed her from getting off the plane to use the restroom.
When she then missed her connecting flight, Dawn Wilcox was forced to sit in urine-soaked clothes for hours, KWTX News reported.
Dawn Wilcox was flying home from a friend’s funeral in New York, when the incident happened.
Dawn Wilcox, a disabled army veteran was forced to wet herself and sit in her own urine for hours after airline staff ignored her pleas to use the bathroom
Dawn Wilcox told MSNBC: “They landed and started letting people off.
“I said, <<Ma’am, I’m really about to go in my pants>>. I was almost in tears. They’d already let three quarters of the people off and it was too late, I’d already wet my pants.”
American Airlines says cabin crew offered her an on-board wheelchair with which she could have gone to the restroom. The airline also said Dawn Wilcox declined the offer as she wanted to use her own wheelchair which was stowed away in the hold.
But veteran Dawn Wilcox told MSNBC that she was not offered a wheelchair on board.
Dawn Wilcox said American Airlines did offer her a shower, but that she didn’t have any clean trousers to put on and was not given any.
American Airlines also offer her a food voucher and $100 credit towards another flight, she said.
American Airlines have now offered Dawn Wilcox a formal apology.
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