Legal Question in Aviation Law in Florida

Good evening,

I flew last week on business class with American Airlines from JFK to Barcelona. In mid flight after dinner I proceeded to use the front bathroom. The unit was occupied and I had to wait over 5 minutes to use it. While waiting in front of the galley near by the bathroom door the head stewardess made a rude comment about me to one of the other stewardesses: "Now I got a wait for that one" referring to me. Right after her comment she stood next to me with her arms crossed, staring at me and trying to intimidate me. Since I noticed that she was out on a mission I simply ignored her and looked the opposite way.

The minute the bathroom became available she stood in front of me and demanded in a very aggressive tone that I make my bathroom visit as quick as possible because she needed to access the cockpit. I politely replied that I needed to use the bathroom and tat I would do it as quick as possible. The Stewardess wasn't happy with my reply but decided to let me in.

A few minutes later when I excited the bathroom the same stewardess approached me in a very nasty way saying: �Thank you for taking such a long time. I tried to explain to her that I tried to keep my bathroom visit as short as possible. She didn�t like my answer and made repeated condescending gestures suggesting that I shut up and go back to my seat. She also walked by my seat several times trying to continue intimidating me with her mean facial expression.

I also reported the incident to the pilot after we landed because I felt very disrespected by the stewardess. She was simply rude and mean and she could have handled herself much more professional and more polite.

In fact I am very angry for the way I was treated and would like to know if there is any way that I can make the Airline responsible for what happened and if I would have a case sewing AA?

I appreciate any input you might have.

Thank you in advance,

G.J.P.A.


Asked on 1/10/10, 6:35 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Sarah Grosse Sarah Grosse, Esquire

You have absolutely no chance of successfully suing AA for this. People are rude, and I think you are old enough to know that. Just because a rude person is acting as an employee at the time of the rudeness does not make their employer liable for anything. You can file a customer complaint with AA and you can hope she gets fired.

Out of curiosity, what in the world would you sue for? An apology? You surely don't have any monetary damage or psychological damage. Maybe AA will issue you a written apology and give you a free flight if you just complain to them enough. But, to go to court over it would be ludicrous.

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Answered on 1/15/10, 6:55 pm


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