Outrage is brewing after an American Airlines first class passenger was kicked off a flight, despite arriving on time…all because an agent disappeared to grab donuts.

First Class Passenger Removed From Flight After Agent Vanishes For Donuts

A traveler claims he arrived at Orlando–Melbourne International Airport (MLB) about 50 minutes before departure, inside AA’s own 45-minute baggage cutoff window. But there was no one at the check-in desk. When an agent finally emerged from a back room…she was munching on donuts.

Even though the passenger handed over their ID right away, the agent ruled they’d missed the cutoff by two minutes and refused to check in his clubs. Meanwhile, the agent simply walked away again. Shocked, the passenger remarked, “She’s holding a bag of Dunkin’ Donuts and a coffee … I’m sure ALL of this is on camera.”

If this unfolded in that way, this isn’t just a bizarre inconvenience…it’s grounds for termination. A premium traveler, on time and professional, was tossed off due to a lazy, uncaring agent, buried under a phrase we’ve all heard way too often: “Rules are rules.” But how can you blame the passenger when you were in the back room before check-in cutoff, eating donuts?

I understand that at smaller stations like Melbourne, Florida, one agent may wear many hats. I’ll never forget the first time I was exposed to this in Bismarck, North Dakota (BIS). I was flying United and I spied the same agent who checked us in on the ramp loading bags and then boarding the flight…that maybe the case here, considering AA has three flights a day to Charlotte (CLT) operated by their PSA subsidiary.

But it doesn’t matter…if you show up on time and the agent is dawdling, it’s not your fault…and at a tiny station like that, it’s super easy to simply take the bag, put it on the conveyor belt, run it through an x-ray, then load it onto the plane…it takes a few minutes.

As I’ve said before, if AA wants to be a premium carrier, these sorts of stories cannot occur…a traveler should not feel compelled to arrive far before check-in cutoff because he is afraid the check-in agent might be taking a donut break.

CONCLUSION

A first class American Airlines traveler got scrubbed from a flight because an agent went MIA for a donut run. If this situation did go down as the passenger described, then AA owes this man more than an apology…it owes all of us a duty to re-train agents on such simple matters like not taking a break before check-in cutoff or enforcing arbitrary and capricious baggage cutoffs.

Hat Tip: View From The Wing