Instagram star Jen Selter speaks out after being kicked off American Airlines flight
‘It was really frightening.’
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Louise Thomas
Editor
Instagram star Jen Selter has spoken out after being kicked off an American Airlines flight on Saturday night.
The 24-year-old fitness influencer, who has over 11 million followers on Instagram, uploaded videos on Twitter showing an altercation on a flight due to fly from Miami to New York which led to her being removed by police officers.
Selter had been sitting on the delayed aeroplane with her sister for two hours when she decided to stand up to put her jacket in the overhead compartment and to stretch.
When a flight attendant told her that she had to sit down, they began arguing with each other.
He decided to get the pilot of the plane involved, who then proceeded to have police officers remove Selter from the plane.
“People kept coming up to me and then all of a sudden five male officers come at me and it was really frightening,” Selter told Good Morning America.
In one of the videos that Selter uploaded, she can be seen crying as a police officer tells her: “American Airlines calls the shots. They don’t want you to fly on their plane today.”
American Airlines provided The Independent with a statement in regard to the situation, saying: “American offered her hotel accommodations and transportation, which she declined.”
However, Selter has since taken to Twitter to set the record straight about the airline’s supposed generosity.
“AND correction @AmericanAir your employees working that night did NOT offer ANY accommodations.
“They specifically said if you get taken off, they are not responsible anymore and that we can sleep in the airport.”
This isn’t the first time American Airlines has caused controversy for the treatment of their passengers.
American Airlines has been lambasted for racism on multiple occasions.
On Christmas Eve, American Airlines kicked two black basketball players, Marquis Tague and Trahson Burrell, off a flight after falsely accusing them of stealing blankets from the first class cabin.
In May last year, an African American women was told to sit at the back of the plane despite having a first class ticket.
Selter isn’t calling for a boycott of American Airlines. However, she does believe that the airline needs to drastically improve their customer service.
“I’m not here trying to say don’t fly American, I think they just need to make changes within themselves and have to treat their passengers differently,” she said.
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