That employee represents the airline.
In the same way, I would fire him. Being rude to a customer is unacceptable.
My employee represents me. If my employee is insulting, how long do you think I can stay competitive.
If the flight attendant isn’t called on the carpet about this, I will be surprised. AA is very strict with their flight attendants and doesn’t put up with any BS from them.
How could this play out? I mean, really. If Glenn Beck had a medical emergency, could this FA refuse to help? Could he refuse to assist him off of the plane in an emergency? I would not trust him with my safety in any situation. There is absolutely no place anywhere for this type of hatred that was directed at Mr. Beck and for some group of people to promote themselves as ‘safety professionals’ they ALL need to act the part.
If I ran AA, I would fire this guy. And apologize to Mr. Beck for this jerk’s immature, pathetic behavior after putting out the word that this will NEVER, ever be tolerated towards any customer.