A San Diego man filed a lawsuit against American Airlines, claiming that the airline wrongfully disqualified him from taking future flights after a 2019 interaction with a flight attendant regarding the adjustment of his seat, despite the fact that another crew member expressed regret for his colleague’s actions.

On March 29, 2019, Klein and his wife boarded an American Airlines flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles. Shortly after they had taken their seats, a flight attendant came over and instructed Klein to turn his seat upright, according to the lawsuit. The flight attendant again went by the plaintiff a short while later, bent over him, and started pressing the seat adjustment buttons under his arm rest before Klein had finished adjusting his seat, the lawsuit claims.

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“Surprised at having a stranger make physical contact with him, plaintiff moved the flight attendant’s arm away and told her that he would adjust his seat himself, which he immediately did,” the suit states. According to the lawsuit, after the flight attendant got off the plane, she didn’t speak to Klein again.

According to the lawsuit, a different flight attendant who had seen the incident apologised to Klein for his colleague’s actions, saying that she was “having a bad day.” Klein says he considered the matter closed and forgot about the incident.

The suit claims that in February of this year, Klein made arrangements for himself and his wife to fly on American Airlines from Los Angeles to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten.  According to the claim, when Klein and his spouse arrived at Los Angeles International Airport after a journey from their San Diego home, they began checking their bags and discovered “to their surprise and horror” that Klein was not permitted to fly on American Airlines.

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Klein thinks that the flight attendant involved in the incident involving his seat adjustment in 2019 “solely out of spite filed a report with the airline that falsely accused plaintiff of refusing to follow safety instructions” despite the fact that AA is alleged to have refused to explain why he is prohibited from flying with them.

According to the lawsuit, “Plaintiff has written to the airline to ask them to kindly reinstate his permission to travel, but he has not received any response to his letter.”