A passenger with twin infants encountered an unexpected conflict on a recent American Airlines (AAL) -) flight. The passenger is now reportedly taking the airline to small claims court over the incident.
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The traveler, identified as Erika, with twin girls of about 18 months, was flying from Portland, Ore. to Tallahassee, Fla. with a layover in Dallas, One Mile at a Time reported. She was ticketed for one infant to travel in her lap and the other to sit next to her in a seat.
Due to the difficulty of traveling alone with twins, she had checked both of the girls' car seats in before taking them aboard the airplane.
"The infant must either travel in a safety seat approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or be able to sit upright in their seat without assistance and have their seatbelt securely fastened during taxi, takeoff, landing and whenever the 'fasten seatbelt' sign is on," American Airlines writes on its website.
The woman reportedly traveled with one of the infants on her lap and one upright in a seat on the first leg of the journey without incident.
"Upon boarding the second flight, Erika claims that the flight attendant kept telling her that it was an FAA and American Airlines policy to not allow an infant under the age of two to occupy their own seat without a car seat," wrote Ben Schlappig on One Mile at a Time.
Schlappig, with whom Erika had shared the details of the episode, continued his explanation.
The argument wasn’t that the infant was unable to sit upright and keep her seatbelt fastened, but rather that this was just a blanket violation of regulations.
Eventually the flight attendant threatened to remove Erika and her twins from the plane, given the lack of a solution. Kindly, a woman seated behind Erika proactively offered to hold her daughter for the duration of the flight, which Erika describes as a "godsend." After all, otherwise she would have been stuck in Dallas, potentially without car seats, etc.
Erika claims the flight attendant then proceeded to harass her for the first half of the flight, but then eventually came by to apologize, when she realized that the policy she was citing simply didn’t exist.
After the flight, Erika reportedly asked for a refund for the ticket the daughter had who wasn't allowed to use a seat.
American Airlines denied that request, according to Schlappig. So Erika decided to sue the airline in small claims court.
"In litigation, American Airlines has taken the position that under its contract of carriage, the airline isn’t actually required to provide passengers with any seat at all," Schlappig wrote. "Therefore it’s not a breach of contract to fly a ticketed passenger without a seat, as long as you get them from the origin to destination."
"American also doubles down in claiming that the flight attendant could deny boarding to the infant at their sole discretion. American basically seems to suggest that the flight attendant not knowing the rules was a perfectly fine reason to deny boarding," as Schlappig described the lawsuit. "Again, there’s no indication that the flight attendant determined that Erika’s daughter wasn’t capable of sitting on her own, but rather she just misunderstood the policy in general."
The trial is scheduled for October. The woman who offered to hold the infant will testify, according to One Mile at a Time.
"I do find American’s defense here pretty shocking and weak," Schlappig wrote. "The airline claims that the contract of carriage doesn’t actually promise you a seat, but just promises to get you from your origin to the destination."
At the time of publication, American Airlines has not responded to a request for comment.
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