It looks like Talib Kweli had a horrible experience while flying on American Airlines. After a dispute over checking a bag, Talib Kweli claims the flight attendant was hostile, rude and unwilling to hear what he was saying. Talib claims the flight attendant then stated he could no longer fly on the flight and the decision was made by their supervisor. Even after the supervisor verified there was nothing wrong with the bag Talib was flying with, the flight attendant refused to fly with him claiming they did not feel safe with him on board. The crew then called the police to remove him from the plane.
On Instagram Talib wrote:
Yesterday afternoon @americanair threatened to have me arrested for no reason at all.
-After clearing my bag with the gate agent, flight attendant Sky Seaglass tells me my bag is too big and I must check it. I asked why, so he got annoyed and called his supervisor.
- The supervisor tells me it's her decision whether I fly or not. That's an important detail.
- The supervisor sees that the attendant Seaglass was wrong about my bag and walks me to my seat and says l'm good to fly.
- Moments later the supervisor comes back and tells me that if I do not obey the flight attendant while in the air, I will go to jail. The whole time, Seaglass, who l'm not talking to at all, is telling people he feels "unsafe."
- Moments later the supervisor comes back and tells me I must leave the plane. I tell her I feel like that's a violation of my human rights and my rights as a customer. She then tells me I must stop recording, even though earlier she said I could record, and was made to sit and wait as everyone exits the plane. I tried to go live 3 times but @instagram kept cutting my audio.
- They then send 3 police officers in.
- Police expressed surprise that @americanair crew threatened me with arrest and said only the police can make that call. Cops then say "we got called out for nothing" and "you didn't do anything wrong." It's right there on video.
My actual luggage is the last screenshot. Clearly, my bag wasn't the issue.
American Airlines has not publicly responded to the incident.