American can refuse to let you board or remove you from a plane if it decides, at its own discretion, that you pose a safety risk, have misbehaved on a previous flight, or have not followed crew instructions.
This analysis describes what American Airlines's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
The broad discretion reserved to American in this provision means passengers have limited procedural recourse against a removal or boarding refusal decision made in the moment, and the grounds listed include subjective criteria such as offensive conduct or dress.
Interpretive note: The scope of 'sole discretion' is constrained by statutory non-discrimination law, so the breadth of this provision as written may not reflect its legally enforceable limits in practice.
The updated Terms of Use no longer include explicit statements about how American Airlines uses performance cookies to analyze site usage and track popular pages, or how functional cookies remember your preferences like language and region settings. Previously, the terms disclosed that cookies are essential to site operation and cannot be rejected. The removal of these disclosures means users visiting the American Airlines website will not find this granular explanation of cookie purposes in the terms themselves, though cookie collection may continue through other disclosure mechanisms such as a separate privacy policy or cookie banner.
View change record →Changed from 'reasonable discretion' to 'sole discretion', added specific criterion for previous flight misconduct, and replaced vague references with explicit conduct examples (dress, personal hygiene).
View full change record →A passenger removed or refused transport under this provision may lose the value of their ticket and face disruption to their travel plans; the provision's reliance on American's sole discretion means the standard for removal is not objectively defined in the document, which may create inconsistent application.
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If we learn that we've collected the personal data of a child under the age of 13 or 16, as applicable, we'll take reasonable steps to delete the personal data. This may require us to delete the Skillshare account...
If our moderators decide to remove content, or suspend or terminate the Member's account, we will notify the Member and explain how to contact us.
If we become aware that a child has provided us with personal data without parental consent, we remove such data and terminate the child's account (except where we are required to retain all or a portion of such data for compliance purposes).
"American may refuse to transport, or may remove from the aircraft, any passenger who American, in its sole discretion, determines: has engaged in misconduct on a previous flight; may jeopardize the safety of the flight or other customers or employees; has failed to observe the instructions of any member of the crew; or whose conduct, dress or personal hygiene is lewd, obscene or offensive to other customers.Excerpt from American Airlines's Terms of Use
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: Passenger removal authority interacts with the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) and Americans with Disabilities Act for passengers with disabilities, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act for passengers in protected classes, and …
Enforcement risk, jurisdiction flags, contract triggers, and due diligence action items.
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The broad discretion reserved to American in this provision means passengers have limited procedural recourse against a removal or boarding refusal decision made in the moment, and the grounds listed include subjective criteria such as offensive conduct or dress.
A passenger removed or refused transport under this provision may lose the value of their ticket and face disruption to their travel plans; the provision's reliance on American's sole discretion means the standard for removal is not objectively defined in the document, which may create inconsistent application.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 277 platforms. See the full comparison.
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