A woman has vented her anger after claiming American Airlines left her 15-year-old brother stuck at an airport for nearly 24 hours, with only a $12 snack voucher as compensation.
Bonnie Ngai, who works as a content creator for travel companies, used TikTok to detail the events.
She tells viewers, in a state of frustration: ‘My brother has been stuck in Philadelphia airport for almost 24 hours. His plane was supposed to come to New York City. [but] “It was diverted to Philadelphia because of the weather.”
While she says she “fully understands” the diversion, she finds the way passengers are being treated unacceptable.
After they got off the plane around 7 p.m., Bonnie said that the announcements kept pushing the departure time back an hour. However, her brother discovered that the plane had been delayed until 11 a.m. the next day.
Travel content creator Bonnie Ngai took to TikTok to vent her anger after claiming American Airlines left her 15-year-old brother stuck at an airport for nearly 24 hours
Bonnie says she will “probably” never fly American Airlines again because of the incident, despite it being one of her favorite airlines
Although “adult” passengers were able to get a hotel room, Bonnie says this was not possible for her brother because he was under 18.
Instead, he was told to wait in the terminal and given a $12 “snack voucher.” But because it was midnight, no stores were open at the time, Bonnie points out.
Bonnie expressed her frustration at the $12 insult: “Traveling is my job. I’ve been to many airports all over the world. For $12 in America, you can probably buy a bottle of water, some air, and some chips.”
After Bonnie received a snack coupon at midnight, her brother received another one 11 hours later. Bonnie said that this coupon had to be used for both breakfast and lunch.
Bonnie said she called customer service on her brother’s behalf, in disbelief.
However, the agent she spoke to said there was nothing they could do for her and that they would have to get a new voucher approved, which could take some time.
Bonnie suggested that the airline could have offered her brother the lounge services so he could get something to eat and wait in comfort.
To add to her frustration, the content creator claimed that When she asked the officer what he would do if he had a teenage child, he simply told her that he would make sure the teenager had money in his pocket.
Bonnie assured viewers that her brother did have money, but that wasn’t the issue and that the airline should have acted accordingly.
Responding to viewer requests, Bonnie posted an update on the situation, revealing that her brother has finally returned safely to New York
She explained, “That boy has money in his pocket. I guarantee you, we’ll give him enough money to buy snacks, food, whatever.
But it is your boys’ responsibility to help him, compensate him and [compensate] for the time he’s been in this airport, and the shit he’s had to deal with, and not sleeping and not eating because your flights couldn’t get their shit together.’
Bonnie concludes her monologue by saying it was a “total joke” and that because of the incident she will “probably” never fly American Airlines again, despite it being one of her favorite airlines.
Bonnie responded to viewer requests and posted an update on the situation, revealing that her brother had finally arrived safely in New York.
In the follow-up clip she explains: ‘He sleeps zero hours, but he’s alive and well and that’s all that matters.’
Bonnie also posted another video showing her brother passed out on a park bench later that day, so tired was he, despite the “beautiful” view of Manhattan before him.
The TikTok creator has not revealed whether her sibling received any form of compensation following the ordeal, in the form of cash back or AAdvantage miles.
Many viewers were understanding of the situation.
One commenter wrote: ‘As the mother of a 17 year old daughter I would be terrified and crying uncontrollably.’
Other viewers shared stories of similar things happening to them. One wrote in the comments: ‘This happened to me in Atlanta when I was 16. I was terrified!’
“And they booked me on a 6am flight so I had to walk through multiple terminals at 4am. I hope your brother is okay!”
DailyMail.com has reached out to American Airlines for comment on the matter.
