Couple with infant say they were unjustly removed from AA Charlotte flight

CHARLOTTE, NC (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) — A father is calling for American Airlines to take action against employees who removed his girlfriend and seven-week-old baby off a plane departing out of Charlotte.

“What we just experienced was traumatizing,” Allan Steele-Dadzie said. “I just really can’t believe that I ended up in this situation, I really can’t.”

He said it started when the couple was asked to get out of their seat to let another passenger sit down beside them.

“So, we go to get up and my partner was like, ‘can you give us some space to move out into the aisle’.  I guess she didn’t like the way she said it may be or whatever it was, and she said, ‘is there going to be a problem?’, and my girlfriend said, ‘no there is not going to be a problem.’  She said, ‘ok, sit down and buckle your seat,” Steele-Dadzie said.

About five minutes later, the family said they were told they were being removed from the plane.

“She said I was being aggressive.  I was not being aggressive,” the mother could be heard saying in cell phone video.

“They talked to my partner and told her that they would try to put us on the next flight,  but all of the flights were full.  The only one that we for sure could get on was an 8:20 flight and this was at 1 o’clock in the afternoon,” Steele-Dadzie said. “Never in a million years would I imagine that something so small, the micro-est of interactions would result in her deciding that a seven-week-old baby and her mother should be put off a plane.”

In a statement to Fox 46, American Airlines said, “We are actively looking into an incident involving a family traveling with us from CLT to PHL on Sunday, Dec. 5. Our values demand that all customers are treated fairly and with respect, and we find the video posted by the family concerning. We have reached out to the customers involved to understand their experience, and are seeking additional information from other passengers on board and team members who were present. This matter has our full attention and we will take appropriate action as necessary.”

The father tells Fox 46 that he plans to hire an attorney.