Did American Deny Boarding To Family For Being Jewish? Or Just For Being Late?

There’s a video going viral of a family reportedly being denied boarding on an American flight, with the father suspecting that this only happened because they were Jewish. Is there any truth to that, or what’s really going on here?

Family arrives at gate, denied boarding despite open door

A man took to Twitter/X to share his experience flying with his wife and three kids on American. The post has now been viewed around seven million times, and when you add how many places it has been reposted, it has probably been viewed well over 10 million times across platforms.

This incident happened on April 21, 2025, and involves American flight AA1011, from Dallas (DFW) to New York (LGA), as the family was connecting from Cancun (CUN) the same day. As the man explains, they were last in line to board, and the person in front of them in line was allowed to board, while they weren’t. He clarifies that they weren’t on standby, and had “legitimate tickets.” So he asks “was it because we were Jewish,” because “we didn’t get any other valid reasons for it.”

In the roughly 60-second video, you can indeed see someone right in front of the family being rushed onto the aircraft, and the door being closed immediately behind her. The man starts recording the staff, noting how the person immediately in front of them was being boarded, to which the gate agent responds “you’re going to have to go down to the rebooking.”

When he asks “why is that,” a supervisor comments “sir, the door closes at ‘D’ minus 10, and you arrived late, that’s why we couldn’t put you on the flight.” The father responds with “I don’t understand, the door is still open,” and threatens to file a complaint.

What actually happened with this American gate incident?

Look, racism in travel absolutely happens, so I don’t want to dismiss that this could sometimes be a factor. I mean, we’ve seen American remove a group of Black men who didn’t know one another from a flight, simply because they were all Black, and it’s something the company even admitted.

However, in this case it sure seems like there’s a pretty straightforward explanation, though I understand it might not be obvious to a less frequent flyer. As you can see, while the man is talking to the American employees, the monitor says “flight closed.”

Airlines don’t close the door at departure time, but instead, typically close it a bit early, since departure time is supposed to be when the plane actually pushes back. Obviously they arrived at the gate within 10 minutes of the departure time (which is why the supervisor says “the door closes at ‘D’ minus 10”), and the flight had already been “closed out.”

Why would they let the woman in front of them onboard? Odds are good that she was actually on standby, and had been cleared at the last minute. As you can see, they closed the door immediately behind her. There’s a certain point at which they have to close out a flight, and remove those who aren’t there on time, so that they can print the final paperwork, and prepare for departure.

Now, there’s something to be said for potentially waiting a few minute for connecting customers, and it’s something that American is now increasingly doing. But when American doesn’t do that, it’s not because of racism, but instead, it’s because the airline has bad metrics, of valuing punctuality over everything else.

On the one hand, I can understand the man’s confusion. They were connecting from another flight, so it wasn’t their fault they were running late. When you see the door to a plane still open, you assume that means you can still board, if you have a confirmed ticket.

But it also seems a little disingenuous that the man automatically concludes it was them being Jewish that caused them to be removed, saying “we didn’t get any other valid reasons for it,” when the supervisor did try to provide an explanation.

In fairness, the supervisor could’ve also done a better job there. He used airline industry lingo like “‘D’ minus 10,” which means absolutely nothing to the average person. It would’ve been better if he maybe explained it a little differently:

“We require passengers to be at the gate 10 minutes before departure, because our departure time is when the aircraft is supposed to push back. Ahead of closing the door, we have to print paperwork for the crew and give a final passenger count, and since you weren’t at the gate at the time, we had to offload you. I’m sorry.”

This incident certainly isn’t a shining example of great customer service, but I also don’t see any reason to believe this was motivated by the passengers being Jewish. American has certainly left me behind in a similar way several times before, and I’ve never assumed that it’s because I’m gay, or whatever.

Bottom line

A frustrated family arrived at an American gate, only to find that the door was still open, but that they weren’t allowed to board. That’s despite the fact that the person immediately in front of them was allowed to board.

I understand the optics here can be confusing to a less frequent flyer, but it seems clear to me what was going on. The flight had been closed out, and the person immediately in front of them had probably just been cleared off standby. The ground staff printed the paperwork for the crew, and were ready to close the door.

Now, there’s an argument to be made that it would be good service to get these people back on the flight, and minimize disruptions. But I wouldn’t assume there was any ulterior motive here.

What do you make of this American gate incident at DFW?