American Airlines attendant suspended for hitting passenger

An American Airlines flight attendant has been suspended for hitting a female passenger with a baby stroller onboard a domestic flight, the media reported on Saturday.

The woman had just boarded a flight on Friday afternoon from San Francisco to Dallas when the incident occurred, the New York Daily News reported.

A video posted by a Facebook user showed the aftermath.

"AA (American Airlines) flight attendant violently took a stroller from a lady with her baby on my flight, hitting her and just missing the baby," the user captioned the video.

Although, the footage does not catch the moment when the flight attendant allegedly struck the woman, but the atmosphere in the cabin gets tense as a man steps in to defend her.

"Hey bud, you do that to me and I'll knock you flat," the man says to the attendant as the distraught woman stands to the side clutching her baby.

"You stay out of this," the attendant responds, adding "Hit me, c'mon, bring it on!...C'mon, you don't know what the story is.".

The woman was eventually escorted off the flight, but the attendant was allowed back on, reports the New York Daily News.

The Facebook video quickly spread across social media, and had been shared more than 3,500 times as of early Saturday.

American Airlines condemned the attendant's behaviour and said it had launched a probe into the incident.

"What we see on this video does not reflect our values or how we care for our customers," the airline said in a statement.

"We are deeply sorry for the pain we have caused this passenger and her family and to any other customers affected by the incident."

The airline said the woman and her baby boarded another flight.

The attendant was removed from duty pending an investigation, it added.

The incident follows another high-profile clash on a United Airlines plane two weeks ago, when a passenger was violently removed from an overbooked flight.

--IANS

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