A Black American Airlines passenger says he was met by police at the airport after a flight attendant became suspicious that his mixed-race children weren't his

• A Black passenger claims an American Airlines attendant told police they were concerned his mixed-race kids may not have been his.
• He chronicled the events in a series of videos, saying he was met by police on arrival in Los Angeles.
• He said the attendant became suspicious after his "pretty shy" son didn't engage in conversation with her.

A passenger on an American Airlines flight claims he was met by police on arrival in Los Angeles after a flight attendant highlighted concerns about the wellbeing of his children and suggested that they may not have been his.

David Ryan Harris, who is Black, flew from Atlanta to Los Angeles on September 15 with his two children, who are mixed-race.

He said that a flight attendant became suspicious because one his seven-year-old son, who he described as "pretty shy," didn't respond when she tried to engage him in conversation and ask him his name.

"Upon our arrival in Los Angeles, we were met at the top of the jetway by an AA employee and four police officers," Harris said in an Instagram video documenting the incident. "Apparently, a flight attendant had called ahead with some sort of concern that perhaps my mixed children weren't my children because they were unresponsive."

"I wanted to go through the roof," he said, but added that he didn't want to get angry in front of his children.

The police questioned his children, and were ultimately satisfied that they were his own, Harris said. The American Airlines staff member didn't offer any kind of compensation for the incident, Harris said.

The flight attendant had only interacted with the child in question for around 30 seconds, he said.

If the flight attendant was concerned that the children weren't his own, she could have checked their last names, which were the same as his own, or looked at their Frequent Flyer accounts, which were linked to his own one, he said.

"There were many steps that she could have taken before she lobbed the hand grenade of having the authorities called," Harris said in a video. He described it as "completely poor form" on the part of the airline.

The US Department of Homeland Security says that being disoriented, confused, fearful, timid, or submissive could all be potential indicators of human trafficking.

American Airlines says that it provides mandatory human-trafficking awareness training for frontline staff including flight attendants and "empowers'" them to act if they suspect human trafficking.

After posting a series of videos chronicling the incident on Instagram, some people have suggested that the attendant may have thought he was child trafficking.

Harris said that after the incident he called American Airlines' customer-service team but was directed to a webpage instead where passengers can lodge complaints. He never received a response to his complaint, he said.

More than a week later, however, he was finally contacted by an American Airlines agent who'd read about what had happened to Harris on X, the social-media site formerly known as Twitter.

The employee said that there was a list of trigger criteria that the airline uses before taking action when staff are concerned about a passenger's wellbeing, but refused to tell Harris what these were and which ones were relevant with Harris' children. The airline conducted an investigation but couldn't share the disciplinary steps it would be taking against the flight attendant with Harris, he said in a video.

The staff member offer Harris 10,000 air miles, which he took but described as a low amount and "kinda insulting" in a video.

"We strive to create a positive, welcoming environment for everyone who travels with us and apologize for any misunderstanding that may have occurred," an American Airlines spokesperson told Insider.

"A member of our team is reaching out to the customer to learn more about their experience and address their concerns."