A TikToker is using her platform to call American Airlines out for poor customer service after she says her 15-year-old brother was left stranded at the airport for almost 24 hours.
“This is an absolute joke,” Bonnie Ngai (@bonniengaii) tells viewers in a clip posted Sunday.
Her brother was coming to visit her in New York City when his plane was diverted to Philadelphia due to weather conditions. At first, she says, passengers were told they would be back on the plane within an hour. One hour turned to two. Then they were informed the plane wouldn’t be leaving until 11am the next morning.
“So boy has to stay in the airport by himself while everybody else gets a hotel room because he is a minor. I totally understand that. You’re not 18; you can’t get a room,” Ngai says. “What does he get? A $12 snack voucher.”
American Airlines’ solution: $12 snack vouchers
Ngai’s brother was apparently given one $12 snack voucher at midnight—when nothing was open at the airport—and then another at close to noon the next day when he still hadn’t been put on another flight.
Frustrated with the situation, she spoke with someone at customer service after having her brother put her on speaker phone, hoping that they could do something else for him with such a lengthy delay.
“Take him to, I don’t know, a lounge, an American Airlines spot and give him real food. I don’t even know,” Ngai says.
Instead, she was told they couldn’t even give him more snack vouchers. And when she asked the employee what he would do in her situation, he simply told her he would have made sure the teen had cash on hand before leaving home.
“The kid has money in his pocket. I guarantee you, we give him enough money to buy snacks, food, whatever,” she continues. “But it’s your guys’s responsibility to help him, reimburse him and [compensate] for the time that he’s been in this airport, and the [expletive] that he has to deal with, and not sleeping and not eating because your flights couldn’t get their [expletive] together.”
Weather conditions caused flight delays nationwide
Ngai wasn’t the only one furious with that response, or the way things were handled overall by American Airlines. Her comments section was filled with viewers who were in full agreement that they needed to do better, particularly as a minor was involved.
“As a mom of a 17 year old daughter I would be petrified and crying uncontrollably,” wrote one user.
“When I was a lead at Continental/United in Houston we keep our unaccompanied minor lounge staffed 24 hours for this reason,” another added.
“12$ is understandable for a 2-4 hour delay, 30-$40 for over 10 hours AT LEAST with those airport prices,” a third said, regarding the snack vouchers.
“If the airlines let minors fly alone then they should take responsibility for those minors when unexpected problems arise,” another viewer pointed out.
@bonniengaii @American Airlines beyond appalled at your customer service agent’s response & how yall handle situations like this… the fact that you think a $12 snack voucher is sufficient for a 15 year old MINOR for this long of a delay??? 10/10 would prob never fly again #americanairlines #airportstories #airportlife #airportdiaries #airlinesreview #travel #traveltok #travelstory ♬ original sound – Bonnie Ngai
Ngai’s brother was also not alone in his delay. Hundreds of flights out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina were canceled, per WCNC, due to poor weather conditions across the nation.
Although Ngai made the video when her brother was still stuck at the airport, she later updated to say he had made it to New York after a 20 hour delay with no sleep.
The Daily Dot has reached out to both Ngai and American Airlines via email.
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