American Airlines Staff Allegedly Sent Offensive Messages To Passenger After Baggage Inquiry

An American Airlines woman passenger alleged the airlines' staff sent her offensive text messages after she inquired about some baggage issue. However, the airlines responded saying they cannot “substantiate” any of her claims.

Marla Margolis, a practicing attorney from New Hampshire, had flown from Boston to Miami in February with her family. They had accidentally left a garment bag containing her son's suit and daughter's dress on the plane. Margolis said she called the American Airlines’ customer service hotline so that she could be helped with the baggage issue, however, she was told to file a complaint online.

“All I needed to do was to talk to a human being at the airport. I didn’t need to file something and find out 48 hours later if it was found,” Margolis told ABC-affiliated television station in Boston, WCVB.

Margolis alleged that the customer service representative wasn't helpful and couldn't stop from saying a “not nice thing to him" right before she hung up. Minutes later, Margolis received a text, believed to be “the rep or his buddy sitting next to him” in the customer service area.

“I will put my foot up your a-- you f------ w----,” read the message Margolis said she received, according to Fox News. Days later she received another message from the same number, reading: “Are you enjoying my foot up your a--?”

Margolis raised a complaint with American Airlines about the incident urging for an investigation.

“This was simply beyond the pale,” Margolis told Fox News. “I was beyond livid. It's one thing to have a lousy customer service experience and have it end with the disconnection of the call. It's quite another for a call center rep to have taken the following steps to send me this message.”

Margolis accused American Airlines of taking “no accountability” to the incident.

"Note that I never asked for any compensation of any kind or threatened any type of legal action," she told Fox News. "No accountability, that is the bottom line of this story... All I know is 'I'm sorry' is not hard to say."

In a statement to Fox News, American Airlines confirmed the company launched an investigation into the text, but claimed the number is “not associated with American Airlines or the representative Ms. Margolis spoke with.”

“We take these allegations seriously and immediately launched an investigation. Our team conducted an investigation, which included speaking to a representative in Phoenix, Ariz., and a senior agent based in our Raleigh/Durham, N.C. office,” an American Airlines representative said in the statement. “Our team also traced the phone number where the text message originated, which comes back to a phone number not associated with American Airlines or the representative Ms. Margolis spoke with in North Carolina. Our research also shows that these representatives were immediately on other calls after Ms. Margolis disconnected her call with American.

“American researched these allegations, and we are unable to substantiate any of the claims made by Ms. Margolis. We recommend she file a police report in order for law enforcement to potentially continue their investigation into the phone number which was used to send her those text messages,” the statement added.