Passenger kicked off flight after heated argument over overhead locker space for his bags

Fellow traveller who filmed confrontation claims the man had used four overhead storage compartments

Benjamin Parker
Friday 01 September 2023 10:39 BST
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The aggrieved passenger was taken off the plane after clashing with staff
The aggrieved passenger was taken off the plane after clashing with staff (Reddit/Cool_Disaster2484)

A man was kicked off a plane during boarding after a confrontation with a member of cabin crew over the number of bags in the overhead storage bins.

Footage of the argument was filmed by a fellow flier on an American Airlines flight and has gone viral after it was uploaded to Reddit.

“This guy put his luggage up here, now we don’t have any space,” said the angry passenger, who can been seen wearing a bright yellow T-shirt. He goes on to repeat his complaints about the space: “Now there’s no space. He’s got no space.”

One of the airline’s cabin crew can be heard asking the man to “please stop”, explaining that he was “going to ask you one more time”.

However, the passenger appears to be offended by the employee’s hand movement, responding: “Don’t point at me, don’t point your finger at me. You point your finger at me one more time I am going to call the police.”

The steward denies pointing his finger, telling the man that he needs “to stop with this whole luggage situation” before saying with apparent disbelief: “You’re going to call the police on me? OK.”

The video then jumps to the man being escorted from the aircraft by another member of staff.

The Reddit user who uploaded the clip claimed the man had used four of the overhead bins to store his luggage, and while being removed he can be seen taking several bags.

The fellow passenger added that they “left out the horrendous racist comments he made to the gentleman who put his luggage in the overhead bin.”

The Independent has contacted American Airlines for more information.

The Reddit post has so far attracted more than 7,000 “upvotes” and more than 1,000 comments, with particular attention paid to the passenger’s threat to call the police over being pointed at.

One commenter sarcastically imagined a conversation with authorities: “’Hello police? Yes, a man pointed his finger at me.’”

Another user said: “I feel so bad for that flight attendant. Seemed like a very nice person.”

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