Bay Area flier says United canceled his ticket after he filmed baggage dispute in New Orleans

" "

A Bay Area flier named Navang Oza, who was traveling from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to San Francisco International Airport on May 4, says a United Airlines ticket agent canceled his flight after he began filming an altercation they were having.

Oza said the agent was attempting to charge him $300 for his bag, which exceeded the 50-pound limit. Oza contends that the same bag holding the same contents only cost him $125 in his flight out of SFO to New Orleans, which caused the disagreement.

Related: United Airlines passenger with ticket to Paris lands at SFO

At this point it was 4 a.m., and the confrontation escalated to the point where Oza began filming — within his right in a public place, despite what the agent suggests — apparently leading the agent to cancel his flight ticket. United has since apologized, but Oza is attempting to get the company to reimburse him for a one-way flight he had to book on a different airline to get home.

As he later told NBC Bay Area, "the lady was being rude...I was shocked because I didn't know she had the right to cancel my flight because I started recording."

Airline Quality Rating uses mishandled baggage, consumer complaint, on-time performance and involuntary denied boarding data to formulate annual ratings for airlines. AQR found that the industry improved overall in 2016 over the previous year. >>Click through the photos to see airlines ranked by overall score less Airline Quality Rating uses mishandled baggage, consumer complaint, on-time performance and involuntary denied boarding data to formulate annual ratings for airlines. AQR found that the industry improved overall ... more Photo: FStop Images - Stephan Zirwes/Getty Images Photo: FStop Images - Stephan Zirwes/Getty Images Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Bay Area flier says United canceled his ticket after he filmed baggage dispute in New Orleans 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

Just about a minute after Oza begins filming the agent, she begins filming him as well, which Oza initially posted to his Facebook page as part of a raw 13-minute video (it has since been deleted). She instructs a co-worker to cancel his ticket, and informs him that "until that [recording] is erased, you're not traveling."

United has responded to the incident, saying, "The video does not reflect the positive customer experience we strive to offer, and for that we apologize. We are reviewing this situation, including talking with Mr. Oza and our employees to better understand what happened."

Related: The Latest: United CEO defends employees in plane incident

Some reports point out that Oza confirmed he drank two beers before heading to the airport, and he might have been inebriated.

SFist writes that in his since-deleted public post, Oza says "when the cops got there they said I was drunk when I only had 2 beers before getting to the airport with my colleagues from work."

The airline did not confirm the reason Oza's ticket was canceled, and it also did not comment as to what happened before Oza began filming.

The incident comes after a tumultuous couple months for United Airlines. In early April, the airline came under fire for forcibly removing a passenger from a flight, injuring him in the process. Again, just last week, another passenger headed to Paris who does not speak English boarded the incorrect flight and landed in San Francisco.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.

