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Adding insult to injury.
An American Airlines passenger named David Cruz is suing the airline after flight attendants allegedly ignored his complaints about getting assaulted by an intoxicated passenger — and even blamed him for causing the disturbance.
The kerfuffle reportedly occurred back in September 2025, but recently came to light via a complaint filed at a Miami district court. He had reportedly sought more than $75,000 in compensation due to damages including “mental and emotional distress, anxiety, humiliation, and loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life.”
Per the document, surfaced by Paddleyourownkanoo, the attorney had been flying from Miami, Florida to Los Angeles, California on a heavily-discounted standby “buddy pass” that was available because his mom works as a quality control inspector for the airline.
Cruz even had the good fortune of being seated in 17B, which had an empty seat beside it.
However, his solitude was short-lived because, partway through the trip, crew members transferred an unruly passenger to the seat next to him — 17A — after the man had been involved in an altercation with someone further back.
The plaintiff found it appalling that they’d decide to handle the hellion in this manner, rather than “restrain him,” segregate him from other travelers, or take other appropriate measures.
He added that, given the man’s prior behavior, this passenger was at a high risk of continuing his drunken rampage in this row as well, per the complaint.
Lo and behold, Cruz’s worst fears came true after the passenger allegedly elbowed him in the ribs three separate times, causing bruising. His allegedly inebriated seatmate also threw a bottle of wine over him, soaking his clothes and documents, and even knocked over Cruz’s own drink.
But when the plaintiff flagged the issue to flight attendants, they neglected to “intervene” on his behalf.
Upon arrival, a female flight attendant confronted Cruz in a “hostile” manner while he was still aboard, refusing to let him speak and ripping into him over his buddy pass and D2 priority — a non-revenue standby travel status.
“TELL ME THE TRUTH! WHERE DO YOU WORK? YOU ARE A D2, DON’T LIE — YOU ARE LYING TO ME! YOU WORK IN MIAMI, RIGHT? WHERE DO YOU WORK?” the air hostess yelled at Cruz, per the doc. “OH YEAH! YOU ARE AN ATTORNEY, BUT YOU FLY D2? HAHAHA, YOU ARE LYING, JUST TELL THE TRUTH.”
They added, “YOU KNOW YOU CAN’T CAUSE PROBLEMS BECAUSE YOU CAN LOSE YOUR FLIGHT BENEFITS, YOU ARE A NON-REV. YOU KNOW THAT, RIGHT?”
To make matters worse, the plaintiff received a call days later from American’s corporate security department, who accused him of “passenger misconduct” while an internal investigation by AA revealed the flight attendants accused him of being intoxicated.
He found this allegation baseless given that they didn’t have anything to drink before boarding, adding that his only beverage on board was knocked over by his belligerent neighbor.
AA has since been issued a summons — although they have not yet responded — while the FBI is currently probing the alleged inebriated passenger’s conduct.
Read the full article here
