Woman shares unbelievable reason she was 'banned for life by American Airlines'
Topics: LGBTQ, TikTok, Travel, US News, American Airlines
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: erin_wright_/TikTok/Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Topics: LGBTQ, TikTok, Travel, US News, American Airlines
A woman has shared the bizarre reason that she was apparently 'banned' from flying with American Airlines.
Erin Wright had been traveling to attend her sister's bachelorette party when she ran into a snag as she tried to board her flight.
The 24-year-old took to TikTok, in a video which has been viewed 2.7 million times, and shared how things started to go wrong when she was allegedly unable to check in to her flight.
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Confused, Erin went up to American Airlines' help desk at the airport and asked if they would be able to get her checked in.
But when the desk tried they apparently couldn't check her in either.
In a shocking moment, the employee at the help desk allegedly informed Erin that they couldn't check in as she had been 'banned' from flying with American Airlines.
Recounting her reaction in her video, Erin said: "I was like, 'What?' because I've never done anything. 'What did I get banned for, can you tell me?'"
After checking over the phone, according to Erin, the employee said they couldn't share that with her due to it being an 'issue of internal security'.
Erin then went through a strenuous process of finding out what exactly had triggered her alleged 'ban', emailing the customer service department for answers.
In the meantime Erin claimed she had to fork out $1,000 for a same day round trip flight to actually go to her sister's bachelorette party.
Twelve days after contacting customer service Erin said she finally found out the reason that she had been 'banned' from American Airlines - it was allegedly because she had been caught 'having sexual relations with a man on a flight while intoxicated'.
Except there was just one tiny snag in this claim - Erin is a lesbian.
She said: "I am a 24-year-old lesbian. You see me. Am I having sexual relations with any man? No!"
In a bizarre moment, the TikToker was left having to 'prove' that she's a lesbian and therefore wholly uninterested in sleeping with men.
Recalling the email, she said: "I email them a very serious email, but also somewhat funny, because in it I am like 'I don't really know how to prove it wasn't me except for the fact that I am literally a lesbian. I can like get you letters from other people telling you that that's the truth'."
Erin explained that she was eventually removed from the no fly list and refunded for the cost of her initial flight, but not the extra one she had to book.
Speaking to UNILAD, Erin added that she has 'no clue' how she got confused for someone else in the first place.
"I have no recollection of moving seats or anything out of the ordinary on any recent flights I’ve taken," she said.
The TikToker took to the platform to share her story in the hope that it would draw attention to it and put pressure on American Airlines to compensate her.
And while the creator claimed that she has yet to be contacted by the airline, she took to her profile to reveal that since posting the video she has had enough views to recoup her flight expenses via TikTok's creator fund.
Nonetheless, she indicated that while she has recouped her losses via social media Erin would still like American Airlines to make things right.
UNILAD has reached out to American Airlines for comment.