Flying American Airlines First Class in a Pandemic: Dallas (DFW) - San Francisco (SFO) | Trip Report

In July 2021, I flew from the San Francisco Bay Area to Houston by way of Los Angeles (LAX). This is my return trip from Dallas Ft. Worth (DFW) to San Francisco. This part of the journey had some unexpected twists. The first came while I was sitting at my gate waiting for the boarding time to arrive. A man came up to the gate (which had no gate agents) and started banging his hand down on the stapler quickly. When people looked up to see what the noise was, he stared at them and asked “Do you like that?!” People looked away, uncomfortable. He then started picking up any lose items from the gate desk and throwing them against the back wall of the gate. He started trying to push the keyboards off their stands and pushed off a fan, which broke on impact. One of the passengers told him to stop. And he responded (while walking away) that he wouldn’t stop. He came back about 10 minutes later and started trying to destroy the items at the gate desk again, and another passenger told him to stop or she would call security. He yelled at her to call them, and then started chanting a swear word at her. The gate agents eventually showed up and found the broken items. They indicated they would review the video since the gates are being filmed for security. They already knew the man’s name (Oscar), and he started complaining that he had been waiting for half an hour. Security and a supervisor drew him to the side and tried to talk to him, to calm him down. His traveling companion also tried to calm him down and get him to stop this behavior since she wanted to be able to get on the plane. I could not tell if this was a mental issue or a substance issue. He did not slur his words, but he was not making a lot of sense. He kept telling the security person that if they were in California, they couldn't be filming him. He said it so many times that the security person felt the need to point out that they were not, in fact, in California. They eventually led him across the aisle into the space of a closed restaurant, still trying to calm him down. He eventually took his skateboard, lifted it into the air, and swung it at them. They arrested him. When they were putting the handcuffs on him, he was loudly taunting them to make them tighter again and again. Once they were on, he started screaming that they were too tight. They eventually led him through one of the Employee Only sections, with his traveling companion trailing behind him. We boarded our plane with no further mishaps. We were scheduled to take off at 7:15 pm. They pushed us back from the gate, and then we stopped. The captain came on and said we broke the tow bar of the gate pusher, and they had to go get another one. Time passed, and they brought another one. They pushed us back to the gate to have the plane inspected and make sure nothing was wrong. We passed inspection. They pushed us back—and you guess it—broke another tow bar. Another was brought, and we had a second inspection. This time they found that something on the front landing gear was not disengaging like it should, and that was what was breaking the tow bars. The nose wheel steering didn’t release. They decided it was best to take the plane out of service. We all got to deplane. The new plane was supposed to take off at 10pm. They announced several times that the plane would leave from that gate. So I went in search of something to eat for dinner. When I came back, the gate was almost empty. They moved us to a new gate, and I found this out when the last gate agent came to take an unaccompanied minor to the new gate. Waiting at the new gate, I made a new friend. Her name is Monster and she is a very sweet Cocker Spaniel. She is 10 years old, and her tongue is always hanging out one side of her mouth. It’s her thing. She made the wait for the next plane much more fun. Eventually, we got a new plane. We flew back to the San Francisco Bay Area with no further problems, and I ended up getting home quite a bit later than planned. But at least we arrived safely. Video timeline: 0:08 Trouble at the gate 0:23 First boarding 0:33 New friend 0:41 Second boarding 1:26 Takeoff 2:20 Landing Please Like and Subscribe for my next trip. I will be heading to Southern California to embark on Carnival Panorama August 21st, and flying Southwest to get there. I can’t wait!! Background Music: Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) Cyan Waters by Magnofield #AmericanAirlines #FlyingFirstClass