American Downgrades, Threatens, Embarrasses, Brazilian Celebrity

American Airlines is getting some very bad press in Brazil, after a downgrade that appeared to be handled very poorly.

Ingrid Guimarães downgraded on American flight

Ingrid Guimarães is a Brazilian actress with a huge following on social media, who has blasted American for how the airline handled a recent travel experience.

She shared what happened in an Instagram video, which you can find below. Now, I don’t speak Portuguese, but I have to immediately give her credit for the calm and non-emotional tone in which she shares what happened, which adds credibility to what she says.

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A post shared by Ingrid Guimarães (@ingridguimaraes)

On Friday, March 7, 2025, she was flying on American from New York (JFK) to Rio de Janeiro (GIG), and she was booked in premium economy. After she was seated, while already buckled in, she was reportedly approached onboard, and told that she had been downgraded.

The reason for the downgrade was because a business class passenger had an inoperable seat. So the business class passenger was downgraded to premium economy, while Guimarães was downgraded to economy. According to Guimarães:

• She was given no explanation for the downgrade, and was threatened, and told that if she didn’t move seats, she’d be banned from the airline
• American employees reportedly announced over the PA that the flight was being delayed because the actress refused to change seats
• The crew did not attempt to negotiate or offer any kind of compensation, before demanding that she leave her seat
• Her sister and brother-in-law tried to intervene in English, but were told to shut up by a staff member
• A Brazilian flight attendant advised her to leave her seat “por bem ou por mal,” which literally translates to “for better or worse,” but more practically means “whether you like it or not” (based on my understanding)

She ultimately gave in to the pressure, and took a seat in economy. As compensation, the airline reportedly offered her a $300 discount on her next trip with the airline.

This isn’t how you should handle a downgrade situation

I can’t say that I’m surprised that the situation was handled as described, but it really gets at just how bad service in the airline industry can be. This shouldn’t be that complicated. If an airline needs to downgrade someone for operational reasons, passengers should be asked to volunteer, and the airline should offer compensation until someone accepts.

It should be that simple. Operational issues happen, but it shouldn’t be the problem of someone in premium economy that a business class seat wasn’t functioning properly. This is no different than when a flight is oversold, and airlines are supposed to solicit volunteers, rather than involuntarily denying people boarding.

While we only have one side of the story, one thing is for sure — American clearly didn’t take this approach, or else this woman wouldn’t have been strong-armed into downgrading in this way.

Of course you should ultimately follow crew member instructions, but something is very wrong when the way to get a paying customer to accept a downgrade is to threaten and embarrass them.

American has a very broken customer service culture. Morale is low, because executives at the airline have failed frontline workers by not creating a vision for the airline. Quite to the contrary, they spent years pursuing a strategy that failed. American now says it wants to become more premium, and the most basic aspect of that is delivering better customer service. As American management recently laid out in a memo to employees:

It is abundantly clear the competitive battleground in the network airline business has, like never before, shifted sharply to product and customer service. As our ability to outperform in revenue will depend increasingly on embracing that reality and delivering a different and elevated customer experience, especially for our premium and lost loyal customers.

Well, here you have a premium customer, and you see how she was treated. She was belittled and threatened until she was willing to accept a product that she didn’t pay for. I think this is the prime example of what’s broken at American.

Bottom line

American is accused of downgrading a Brazilian actress on a recent flight from New York to Rio de Janeiro. Downgrades happen, though what’s terrible is how this was handled. There was no negotiating, but instead there was threatening and bullying until she had no option and just accepted her fate.

There aren’t many businesses where such a low level of service is tolerated, but airlines are an exception, for whatever reason. If American is serious about a turnaround, I hope the airline studies this situation carefully, and learns from it.

What do you make of this American downgrade situation?