Man claims American Airlines downgraded girlfriend from first class to seat off-duty pilot

The man's girlfriend was informed that her seat was broken, leading her to vacate it.

A passenger on American Airlines, has claimed that his girlfriend was forced to vacate her first class seat for an off-duty pilot on the flight. The passenger named Jake Williams took to X(formerly Twitter) on Tuesday and shared that intially his and his girlfriend's seats were upgraded to first class. But later, his girlfriend was informed that her seat was broken, leading her to vacate it. Sometime later, an off-duty pilot occupied the same seat which was told to be broken.

Representational image of an American Airlines plane (REUTERS)

"You all are terrible. You (gate agent) upgraded my girlfriend and I to first class. You kick her out because broken seat move her to the back. Then pilot sits in said broken seat," wrote Williams in his post.

In a video shared by the user, a man wearing pilot uniform is seen seated. Details about the date and origins of the flight were not shared by Williams. In the video clip, Williams can be heard saying, "Here’s the pilot in the broken seat that they kicked my girlfriend out of.”

Meanwhile, Williams received a mixed reaction to his post on X. Some netizens sided with the airline highlighting that as it was a free upgrade, it wasn't wrong to revert to the original seat class.

According to a report by View From The Wing, deadheading is a common practice for Airlines, in which off-duty pilots sit among other passengers on a flight as they have to reach another location for work. In such cases, the pilots are said to be not working actively but are paid to fly to the work location.

The report also highlighted that American Airlines pilots have the privilege of flying first class due to a union contract. The rationale behind the move is that pilots need good rest and larger seats provide them much needed comfort before work.