Sha’Carri Richardson, a track and field star for the United States, was recently removed from an American Airlines flight. Richardson argued with the flight attendant regarding her phone being placed in airplane mode before the flight took off.

Causing a commotion

Richardson posted about the entire ordeal on her Instagram page, and according to her posts, it all began when a flight attendant told her that she needed to get off the phone. While the flight crew performed its safety demonstration, the same flight attendant stood next to Richardson and peered at her phone multiple times. At one point, he asked if Richardson’s phone was in airplane mode and asked her to show him.

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The commotion continued with Richardson complaining about the flight attendant’s behavior while proceeding to film. After being told she was not allowed to record, Richardson stated that she would not stop because she wanted to make a video for herself.

“I definitely would have listened to instructions but the way he was talking to me was very unprofessional and then his hands were all in my face.”

Eventually, a flight attendant is seen approaching Richardson and telling her that she will be required to leave the aircraft. The reasoning behind the decision was, “the captain wants you off the plane.”

“Does the captain know the situation that happened before removing me? So do they know this man hands is all up in my face and he was very disrespectful and I feel threatened?”

Richardson wanted the flight attendant removed from the aircraft for his “unprofessional” behavior and found it unfair that she was told to get off. In her videos, clapping is heard as she departs the aircraft, as the ordeal caused some passengers to miss their connecting flights.

American Airlines Boeing 787
Photo: Tom Boon | Simple Flying

An American Airlines spokesperson said, “We reaccommodated the customer on a later flight, and a member of our team has reached out to learn more.”

Removing a football star

NFL star Odell Beckham Junior (OBJ), who was removed from an American Airlines flight in November 2022, chimed in on the comments section of Richardson’s posts and found it comical that she had been removed from an AA flight.

After the aircraft pushed back from the gate at Miami International Airport, the flight crew went through the aircraft to check that every passenger had their seatbelts on. When flight attendants approached OBJ, he appeared unresponsive and did not respond to numerous attempts to wake him. As the aircraft returned to the gate, police were called to escort OBJ off the aircraft.

American Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner and two Boeing 777 aircraft in a holding pattern at Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, CA
Photo: Tupungato | Shutterstock

According to the crew, police were summoned for fear that OBJ was unwell and required medical attention. When officers boarded the aircraft and asked OBJ to leave, he did not comply. Eventually, all passengers were removed from the aircraft, and police told Beckham to leave, and he then complied. As always, there are two sides to a story, and OBJ’s attorney claimed that he was unfairly removed and that he would have complied with the crew’s request to fasten his seatbelt.