American Airlines first class passenger kicked off flight for sharing drinks with friends in economy

It's probably not a good idea to share the perks of first class with your friends in economy. Photo / Getty Images

Like a modern day Robin Hood, a passenger was reportedly kicked out of first class on an American Airlines flight for attempting to share alcoholic drinks with his friends in economy.

Writing for The Points Guy, Katie Genter told of how she witnessed the passenger board the flight in a rude manner, with his two friends in economy in tow.

Once seated, first class passengers were offered a pre-departure drink by a flight attendant. However, when boarding was near complete, the man in 1A asked for two more "double shots on ice". When told he could only order one drink at a time, he claimed the second was for the lady next to him.

When the drinks were delivered, the man took both and headed in the direction of the economy cabin, but was quickly stopped.

"The man argued that he needed to go to the bathroom — with his two drinks — to which the flight attendant noted there's a bathroom at the front of the plane for first-class passengers," Genter wrote.

After returning to his seat, the man seemingly texted his friends to come up to "use the bathroom" – but when they tried, they were promptly directed to the bathroom at the back of the plane.

And with that, it was over. Genter tweeted that an American Airlines manager had been called to "talk to him" in the jetway.

His attempts at passing on his first-class perks might have been well intentioned, but were clearly against federal laws. It's the same law that prevents passengers from tucking into their duty-free and aims to keep cabin crew in charge of the alcohol served onboard. Something flight attendants are well aware of and used to policing.

AA manager pulled him from the plane to "talk to him". We'll see if he returns.

— Katie Genter (@katieGenter) May 12, 2018

The passenger then returned to his seat to get his carry-on baggage and left the plane.

"The customer caused a disruption during the boarding process," American Airlines told Travel + Leisure in a statement. "We did offer to rebook the customer on a later flight, but he declined and we provided a full refund."