Another day, another bit of unpleasantness before take-off

This time it was a flight attendant battling with a passenger over a stroller, which should never have been on the plane to begin with. Strollers get gate checked or checked at the ticket counter; they do not belong in overhead bins (because there would be no room for your rollaboards, that's why).

So a woman with two infants, about to board an American Airlines flight from San Francisco to Dallas with an onward international flight, didn't get the memo, and for some reason there were no cabin crew at the airplane door to warn her to not bring said stroller on board, or there were and she ignored them, we simply don't know at this point (it would have been nice if she had read the rules on AA.com before boarding, and followed them, but she didn't it seems, and no, I'm not blaming the woman for that; English appears to not be her primary language, and people don't read these days anyway, so perhaps AA should make a video with all the rules explained, something engaging and clever, just like the safety demo videos they're producing lately; they could play it in the boarding area before people get on the plane).

So a not-so-professional flight attendant lost it and instead of being nice about it reportedly grabbed the stroller and, reportedly, and most assuredly accidentally, bumped it into the passenger who asks to have her stroller returned to her (it eventually was returned, no doubt, but only once she deplaned).

Most flight attendants are great folks (some of my best friends....) but others have simply had it and should find other work. Although commercial air travel has gone down in price adjusted for inflation over the past 20 to 30 years, the quality of the experience (other than the safety aspect, which is stellar, and the addition of inflight entertainment) has gone down in lock step. TSA...less legroom...full flights...no meals...bag and other fees...battle weary cabin crew (yes you, Steven Slater), who do stupid things. You know the drill. It all makes for drama.

That American Airlines flight attendant in the video needs to find a nice back office job where he doesn't interface with passengers. Even if the mother with the babies and the pram wasn't following the rules, if she even knew what they were, there's no excuse for his behavior.

At least this time, the airline got in front of a potential public relations landmine and apologized, grounded the flight attendant after allowing him to work the flight rather than canceling it, sent the mother on her way in first class, and promised to do better the next time.