Glenn Beck says he suffered "subhuman" treatment on an American Airlines flight and believes he was targeted for his political views.
Beck said on his online show that as he and his family took a flight home from New York City over the weekend, he was targeted by a flight attendant who took issue with his opinions.
“I want to personally thank American Airlines for bringing to my attention that they don’t mean 'American Airlines,'" he said. "They mean 'liberal American Airlines' apparently.”
Beck said the flight capped a weekend in which a "minority-owned" New York City barbecue restaurant mistreated him. He said he didn't think his race was the reason for the mistreatment, "because there were white people in there." He was also treated poorly at another restaurant, he said.
Also read: Glenn Beck's Media Network Consolidates GBTV, Marketplace Under TheBlaze.com
Among the mistreatment he said he received on the flight:
>>The attendant was nice to others on the flight, but "barked" the word “breakfast” at Beck and slammed a soda down on his tray.
>>The attendant didn't open the can for him, as he did for other passengers.>>"Never once did he look me in the eye. Never once did he offer a kind or even a neutral word to me," Beck said. "I had service unlike I have never had ever before in my life, and I have had rude service before. I lived in New York City."
>>The service was “specifically designed to make me feel subhuman.”
>>The attendant, sharing personal details, told others on the flight that he was a former Israeli soldier and that he is "so proud" of the U.S.'s liberal cities.
Beck said he wondered what he had done to offend the attendant.
"I wondered if he was ever made to feel like a second-class citizen before," he said. "I wondered if he had any friends and family in the dark years of Europe that made them feel less productive. I wonder if his friends and family ever felt like they were less than a welcome member of society because of their faith or who they were or what they believed."
Beck also wondered what the flight attendant would do if he and his friends were in power, and whether they might force Beck to march through the streets wearing a sign mocking him. Beck didn't make the comparison explicitly, but that was one thing Nazis did to Jews in Germany as Hitler rose to power.
At the end of the flight, Beck says, he tried to take the high ground by thanking the attendant "for not treating my children the way you treated me." The attendant's response, according to Beck, was, 'It was my pleasure. You deserved it.'"
American Airlines has reached out to Beck's office to try to win back his business.
"We continue to investigate the situation to better understand what happened," an airline spokesman said. "We take customer complaints seriously, but we owe it to all of our customers and people to follow our prescribed process to get the facts first and then take appropriate action. We regret that Mr. Beck had a disappointing experience on his recent flight. We value his business and intend to work directly with him to resolve the matter once we have the necessary information."