Log In

Reset Password

Bride-to-be and friends booted off US flight

American Airlines is investigating incident (File photograph)

A bride-to-be and her friends were booted off a flight to the US yesterday as they headed for a pre-wedding party.

The four were ordered off the American Airlines flight to Miami by cabin crew and the flight was delayed by about an hour. The group later travelled on another flight through Philadelphia.

Sean Moran, a former head of business development at the Bermuda Business Development Agency, who wrote online that he was on the plane, claimed the decision to remove the women from the flight was “an extreme overreaction”.

Mr Moran said on Facebook yesterday: “Livid. This beautiful bride-to-be and her wedding party are being kicked off the Bermuda-Miami flight for being too merry as they depart for her bachelorette party.

“Shame on American Airlines for an extreme overreaction that ruined a once-in-lifetime moment for my friend.”

He added: “I was sitting two rows ahead of them and they were just laughing and talking and taking selfies.

“These are all professional young women and they were looking forward to a fun weekend — nothing more.”

Mr Moran added that he had made a complaint to the airline about the cabin crew’s handling of the situation.

He wrote: “A warning would have sufficed.

“People forget what it was like to be young.”

Mr Moran added: “No one on board agreed with the severe action taken.”

His comment on Facebook sparked more than 200 comments as passengers on the women’s flight backed Mr Moran.

One poster wrote: “Sadly all the passengers around were confused and witnessed there was no reason for the deplaning.”

Another added: “No one felt intimidated or bothered by these women.”

The poster said it was “a bad call” by an “inexperienced” flight attendant.

One comment read: “This is such a shame to hear. I’ve heard the same unfortunate story from a few people who are on this plane sitting near this group of women — who stood up for the group saying they had not caused any problem at all.”

But other posters pointed out that many passengers applauded when the group was taken off the flight.

One wrote: “There must be more to this story ... I worked for American and I know that they would only be taken off if the flight attendants felt that they were either a danger to the flight and passengers or that they would be too disruptive.”

Another said that the 9/11 terror attack on the US in 2001 had “changed the face of air travel for ever, passengers must remember that”.

The poster added: “Flight attendants are under a tremendous amount of pressure to maintain passenger safety as laid out by Federal Aviation Administration regulations.

“Under those regulations, they have the power to deplane any passenger who they believe may jeopardise the safety of other passengers.

“We may see this as a celebration, but the flight attendants see it as a potential danger to others.”

American Airlines said yesterday that it had launched an investigation into the incident.

A spokesman said: “We are concerned about the group’s comments and are conducting an investigation into what happened.

“We have connected with our customers on social media and our customer-relations team will be reaching out to them directly to gather more information about their experience.”

Airport operators Skyport declined to comment on the grounds because it was a matter for the airline.