Call it the Revenge of the Flight Attendant.
An American Airlines crew member was captured on a viral video actually saying what most of his peers were likely thinking over the last year as passengers have become more and more unruly.
Tired of some passengers complaining and verbally abusing fellow flight attendants during a weather delay, the crew member took to the public address system and berated passengers.
"Just like you, we have not eaten also," the male flight attendant is heard telling the passengers as the plane sits on the tarmac at the Raleigh-Durham airport. The flight from Los Angeles to Charlotte was diverted because of bad weather. "We've catered to you the entire flight. We do it because we love this job. "But the fact that we get insulted and mistreated by passengers over things we cannot control is disgusting."
In the Tik-Tok video taken by passenger Brent Underwood, which now has more than 1.2 million views, a 22-year-old man on the Monday flight calls a female flight attendant "a fat gorilla" and also hurled obscenities at her after she told him to wear a face mask.
"There was absolutely no excuse for it," Underwood said. "It doesn't matter what you look like. Everybody deserves respect. And everybody deserves to be punished equally for being a rude person like that. Why would you call a person a fat gorilla?"
Passengers were frustrated that the flight sat at Raleigh-Durham for three hours. While sitting in Raleigh, only water and cookies were available onboard, Underwood said, adding that the flight had two male and three female attendants.
"We're just trying to go to Charlotte," the flight attendant adds over the public address system. "But shame on the passengers that have made this flight a living hell for the flight attendants."
His comments were met by applause in the cabin.
"Flight attendants on @officialamericanairways are done with your b.s.!" Underwood wrote on TikTok with the hashtags #AmericanAirlines, #facemask and #dumbcustomers.
"The flight crew did absolutely nothing wrong," he told the Charlotte Observer. "They were more professional than I would have been."
American later defended the flight attendants in a statement.
"We take the health and safety of our customers seriously, and our crew members work hard to uphold the federal mask mandate that remains in effect on aircraft and in airports. We value the trust our customers' place in our team to care for them throughout their journey, and we expect those who choose to fly with us to treat each other - and our team members - with respect," AA said.
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