A woman has expressed outrage after claiming American Airlines left her 15-year-old brother stranded at an airport for nearly 24 hours with only a $12 snack voucher as compensation.
Bonnie Ngai, who works as a travel content creator, took to TikTok to detail the chain of events.
In a state of frustration, he tells viewers: “My brother has been stuck at the Philadelphia airport for almost 24 hours. His plane was supposed to arrive in New York City, but it was diverted to Philadelphia due to the weather.”
While he says he can “totally understand” the diversion, he finds the treatment of passengers unacceptable.
After disembarking the plane around 7 p.m., Bonnie says announcements kept delaying her departure in hour-long increments, but her brother later found out the plane had been delayed until 11 a.m. the next day.
Bonnie Ngai, who works as a travel content creator, took to TikTok to express her outrage after claiming that American Airlines left her 15-year-old brother stranded at an airport for nearly 24 hours.
Bonnie says that because of the incident, she will “probably” never fly American Airlines again, despite it being one of her favorite airlines.
Although the “adult” passengers were able to get a hotel room, Bonnie reveals that her brother couldn’t because he was under 18.
Instead, she was told to wait in the terminal and given a $12 “snack voucher.” However, as it was midnight, Bonnie points out that no stores were open at the time.
Addressing why $12 was an insult, Bonnie vents: ‘Traveling is my job, I’ve been in many, many airports around the world, $12 can maybe get you a bottle of water, some air and some fries in America.’
After receiving a voucher for a midnight snack, Bonnie’s brother received another voucher about 11 hours later, which she said he would have to use for both breakfast and lunch.
In disbelief, Bonnie said she called customer service on her brother’s behalf.
However, the agent she spoke to told her there was nothing they could do and they would have to get another voucher approved, which could take time.
Bonnie suggested that the airline could have offered her brother lounge services so he could get something to eat and wait in comfort.
To add to her frustration, the content creator stated that When she asked the officer what he would do in the same situation if he had a teenage son, he simply told her that he would have made sure the teenager had money in his pocket.
Bonnie assured viewers that her brother had money, but that was not the point and that the airline should have acted accordingly.
In response to viewers’ requests, Bonnie posted an update on the situation, showing that her brother has finally returned safely to New York.
She explained: ‘The child has money in his pocket. I guarantee that we will give him enough money to buy snacks, food, whatever.
“But it’s your responsibility to help him, reimburse him and compensate him for the time he’s been in this airport and all the shit he has to deal with, and not sleep or eat because his flights couldn’t get his shit together.”
Concluding her monologue, Bonnie says it was an “absolute joke” and that because of the incident, she will “probably” never fly American Airlines again, despite it being one of her favorite airlines.
In response to viewers’ requests, Bonnie posted an update on the situation, showing that her brother has finally returned safely to New York.
In the following clip, he explains: “He hasn’t slept a single hour, but he’s alive and well and that’s all that matters.”
Bonnie also posted another clip, showing how her brother passed out on a park bench later that day because he was so tired, despite there being a “beautiful” view of Manhattan in front of him.
The TikTok creator does not reveal whether her brother received any kind of compensation after the ordeal, in the form of money back or AAdvantage miles.
Many viewers expressed their solidarity with the situation.
One commenter wrote: “As a mother of a 17-year-old daughter, I would be petrified and crying uncontrollably.”
Other viewers revealed that similar things had happened to them, with one writing in the comments section: “This happened to me in Atlanta when I was 16. I was terrified!”
“I was booked on a 6am flight so I had to walk through several terminals at 4am. Hope your brother is okay!”
DailyMail.com has contacted American Airlines for comment.
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