Let's face it - had he been carrying an empty 59-cent Bic instead of a empty $300 model, this would never have happened. Some little tin tyrant at the gate saw something she felt like helping herself to, and decided to pull a Silly Rule out of her butt to suit the occasion. Airlines have lots of Silly Rules, designed for instant use when an employee notices that a passenger is for some unaccountable reason having a nice day.
Why not give passengers the option of mailing the offending item home?
(Said "Silly Rule" being clearly posted beforehand on the company's web site and provided in their dead tree literature, well before the guy ever flew. Of course).
Then I'll ask you the same question I asked earlier in the thread, said question to which I still have failed to receive an answer. If petty theft is indeed American's company policy as seems to be the charge of many here, then why weren't my silver and gold cufflinks/watch/ring/pendant, etc. taken from me during my recent trip? A strong enough metal chain could certainly be used to strangle somebody, a watch could be the cleverly-concealed timer for the Semtex molded into my humble but comfortable SAS loafers, and my ring could contain a chip with records of Osama bin Ladin's last 5 high colonics.
Airlines have lots of Silly Rules, designed for instant use when an employee notices that a passenger is for some unaccountable reason having a nice day.
Hyperbole. On the other hand, my recent flights were smooth (if not giddily enjoyable) experiences. For example, I would pay extra - MUCH extra - to be able to take a flight that allowed smoking. Figure the odds.
Maybe a lot of the author's troubles can be pinned on the attitude he displayed - The Golden Rule and all that.
Why not give passengers the option of mailing the offending item home?
Ask American Airlines. I don't have the answer to that one. Better yet, if they have a policy you don't like, then fly with another airline. There is no Constitutional right to stuff yourself into a thin metal cigar with 200 other people and go zooming halfway across the country at accelerated speeds.