American Airlines Bans Lesbian Woman, Accuses Her Of Sex With Man

No, this isn’t some clickbait story about people joining the mile high club. Instead, it’s a story of a woman who was (seemingly) incorrectly accused of raunchy inflight behavior, leading to her being banned by the airline.

American (incorrectly?) puts woman on no fly list

There’s a video going viral on TikTok, about how a 24-year-old woman was placed on American Airlines’ no fly list. She had no clue why she was banned by the Fort Worth-based airline, but later found out it was because she was accused of having sex with a man inflight while intoxicated.

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This is quite the story, so let me summarize the details:

• In June, this woman was supposed to fly to New Orleans (MSY) for her sister’s bachelorette party, and when she went to check-in online, she got an error message
• When she arrived at the airport, she approached an American agent, who also received an error message while trying to check her in; after the agent made a phone call, she informed the traveler that she had actually been put on the carrier’s no fly list, but she couldn’t tell her why
• This caught the woman by surprise, because she claimed she had never done anything questionable with the airline, and had never been informed of this ban; she asked the agent why she was banned, and was told that she couldn’t say why, but that she “should know why”
• The American agent told the woman to call customer service, so she did that, but was told she needed to contact customer relations by email
• At this point she had missed her flight, so she booked a separate $1,000 roundtrip ticket on another airline, in addition to the $400 ticket she had already booked on American
• While waiting for eight hours at the airport for her next flight, she sent an email to customer relations explaining that she didn’t understand why she was banned
• Some time later, she heard back from customer relations, and was told that corporate security would reach out to her; 12 days after the planned flight, corporate security informed her that she has been banned from American for having sexual relations with a man on a flight while intoxicated
• She then emailed back corporate security explaining that this was a misunderstanding, and that she never did what she was accused of
• Corporate security requested she write an appeal, to explain exactly why she didn’t do what she was accused of; she responded humorously that “I don’t know how to prove it wasn’t me, except for the fact that I’m literally a lesbian”
• After a couple of months nothing was resolved, but then the woman’s mother sent an email to the “law department” at American, and two days later she got a call from someone informing her that her case had been reviewed, and that it most likely wasn’t her, so she was conditionally taken off the no fly list
• While American ended up refunding the woman’s $400 ticket (which she wasn’t able to take due to the ban), the airline refused to compensate her for the amount she spent to buy a more expensive ticket on another airline

You can watch the TikTok for yourself below.

@erin_wright_ Thanks for being the worst @American Airlines #storytime #funnystory #funnyvideos #airlinetiktok #airplanestory #funny #fyp ♬ original sound – Erin Wright

While American still hasn’t made this woman whole, there is a silver lining. The woman made a follow-up video, explaining that the ad revenue from the initial video has now surpassed $1,000. That’s at least good, since the added expense of buying a new ticket was putting a strain on her finances.

@erin_wright_ Update!!! @American Airlines #storytime #airlinetiktok #airportlife #funnystory #funny ♬ original sound – Erin Wright

What exactly went wrong here?

There’s no denying that this is a strange story, and one has to wonder what exactly happened here that caused this. Here’s my take on this situation:

• This woman’s version of events comes across as genuine; after all, the issue was eventually resolved, with her being removed from the carrier’s no fly list
• The woman has a pretty common name (Erin Wright), so I can’t help but wonder if she was maybe accidentally mixed up with someone else? When airlines put someone on the no fly list it should be based on more than just the first or last name, but rather it should use additional details, like date of birth
• If this was in fact a mistake, this really demonstrates how much people can end up being the victim of a mix-up, and how one-sided contracts are with airlines; she had to purchase a ticket that was way more expensive than what she initially booked, even though she did nothing wrong
• While I’m supportive of airlines putting people on the no fly list for inappropriate behavior, this also has to be done carefully, to avoid situations like this; it’s bad enough that the mistake happened in the first place, but it’s even worse that it took months for this to be resolved, and for the airline to admit a mistake
• Proving the absence of having done something, especially when you’re not told exactly when and where you did something, sure isn’t easy; of course in this situation, the funny part is that this woman is a lesbian, and is accused of having sex with a man on a plane

I think it’s worth drawing attention to this story because American should do the right thing, and compensate her for the ticket she had to book on another airline.

Bottom line

American Airlines placed a woman on its no fly list, which she found out the hard way, while trying to check-in for a flight. She had no clue why she was banned, and it took quite some time before corporate security told her what she reportedly did — having sex with a man inflight while intoxicated.

However, this woman insists this story isn’t true, and American ultimately listened to her appeal, and unbanned her. She still hasn’t been compensated for the much more expensive ticket that she had to book due to this apparent mixup.

What do you make of this American Airlines no fly list story?