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Jim Breuer slams American Airlines for allegedly giving up his first-class seat and demoting him to row 18 so pilots could sit there
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this saturday night live alum recalled his and wife’s “terrible” travel experience in a Feb. 18 YouTube video
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When the video went online, Breuer claimed that no one “higher up” stepped in to correct the incident.
Comedian Jim Brewer has accused American Airlines of allegedly giving up his first-class seat so pilots could sit there.
In a video shared to his YouTube account on February 18, Breuer explained that he and his wife had just returned from a trip to Honolulu, where they visited their daughter, who was attending school and interning there.
this saturday night live alum said that due to the long distance from their base camp in Florida and the upcoming three-month tour, they decided to “splurge” on round-trip first-class air tickets.
While the flight there went smoothly, he said in the video that the problem occurred during a layover in Phoenix. (A representative for Breuer later clarified to People that the incident occurred during his red-eye flight from Honolulu to Phoenix.)
The comedian continued his story on February 18, saying that while he and his wife were waiting at the airport to board their flight, they saw “American Airlines staff” arriving.
Breuniverse by Jim Brower/YouTube
“I noticed, this pilot and the guy behind the counter, they do this a lot,” he says in the video, before pretending to whisper to an imaginary character next to him. “I was like, ‘Oh, he’s trying to get him a seat.'” “
Soon after, Bloor and his wife heard their names called over the loudspeaker by an American Airlines employee working the counter, whom he claimed he later learned was a supervisor named Mark.
The comedian said Breuer recalled how he initially joked and asked airline employees if they were in trouble, before the man revealed to him that he had given them first-class tickets.
“No, there was no trouble, we just demoted you to row 18. We had to move you out of first class. We were overbooked,” the employee allegedly told the actor and his wife.
Breuer said he and his wife were immediately outraged, especially because he said he saw American Airlines employees talking to off-duty pilots before they learned their seats had been taken.
“Mark took the money that I paid for my family and my wife. He gave it to a friend of his who worked for American Airlines. How do I know this? Because I saw the guy make it,” he said in the video.
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He claimed the employee tried to rebook them on another flight, but it would be economy plus seats and the seats were not adjacent. Brewer said when the couple said “absolutely no” and declined, the employee told him he could offer the couple a $500 voucher.
“A $500 coupon is worth thousands of dollars; [for] The two first class tickets I spent [on] Hosting my wife and I before I leave for three months? My blood boils,” he said in the video.
He also noted that at the time of the video’s release, several days had passed since the alleged incident and he had yet to hear back from the airline.
“Those senior people who haven’t gotten back to me, I have zero respect for you right now,” he said.
Kevin Carter/Getty
He continued his rant, claiming the situation was particularly “bad” because he felt the airline “stole my stuff.”
“You stole my money,” he added. “What this tells me is that you can book a first class ticket on American Airlines, you can book any ticket on American Airlines, and they have no problem putting an employee in your seat and then lie to your face and say, ‘It’s overbooked,’ and then offer nothing.”
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“I was okay with not getting my way. But what I wasn’t okay with was being lied to,” Blore said in a statement shared with People. “I paid for first class on American Airlines. I was told it was overbooked. Then I found out it wasn’t. From that point on, I stopped feeling like I was a mistake and started feeling like something was taken away from me.”
He continued, “I contacted the Department of Transportation, filed a complaint, and it wasn’t until I contacted the Department that I finally heard from someone. This is not how a paying customer should be brought to attention. I really hope leadership takes this issue seriously because I once trusted this airline.”
“We make every effort to ensure you get your selected seat, but seat assignments are not guaranteed,” the American Airlines website states. The airline adds that it reserves the right to change a passenger’s seat for “operational, safety or security reasons.”
PEOPLE reached out to American Airlines for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Read the original article on People
