Rapper Juvenile Says He's Flying Southwest Now After American Airlines Fiasco

Rapper Juvenile is shouting out Southwest Airlines for swooping in to rescue him after he got downgraded to coach on an American Airlines flight and left the plane in anger ... and he tells us AA still hasn't made things right.

The "Slow Motion" rapper joined us on "TMZ Live" Friday and gave us the lowdown on this week's travel nightmare.

Juvenile tells us ... after he lost his first-class seat on his AA flight to Dallas, Texas, Southwest Airlines hooked him up with a couple free tickets so he could make it to his Wednesday night show in Fort Worth.

Thing is ... Juvenile says he hasn't even flown SWA for years ... so that's a pretty big gesture from them.

Juvenile is also expanding on his American Airlines fiasco ... he says he could have made a much bigger scene on the plane, because he bought more than 10 tickets for his band members.

Instead, Juvenile says he decided not to inconvenience his whole tour group ... and essentially took one for the team, and he and his wife left the plane.

AA told us they've personally spoken to Juvenile to resolve the situation ... but he's calling B.S.

While Juvenile's got nothing but good things to say about Southwest, it seems like he is pumping the brakes on air travel for now ... he's in a Sprinter van for the win!!!