Carl Johnson

Here are your factual statements:

Mom is loaded with a back pack.

Mom began crying.

She is looking around for some place to put the stroller so "it will be ok".

Explorer789

Based on what I just read, you sound like someone who does not have kids, let alone two of them and ever had to travel with them alone. The amount of stress she probably was under would make anyone break down pretty easily, especially after getting hit in the forehead pretty hard with a stroller.

idainc

This former EP now Gold can attest to the massive difference in treatment by AA staff then and now - to the point where I avoid them. Regardless of the specifics of this event we all know someone who's been treated like less then the gum on the soles of almost all AA staffs' shoes. They are guilty from the start - go try to find an objective jury for this one.

mvoight

Standing up does not mean threatening someone who accidentally hit another person. Saying you are going to thrash someone if they accidentally hit you doesn't make you the bigger man. It makes you a troglodyte. He should have been removed from the plane.

MSPeconomist

Even if the passenger did "flippantly disregard the GA's orders" (regardless of whether those orders were correct), no AA employee is entitled to casue "bodily injury" to a customer.

mvoight

Of course I will continue to fly AA, UA, and the other majors as much as I do now. When you have thousands of employees, be they cops or FA, or whatever, there are bound to be a few problems. AA suspended the employee pending further investigation. So, clearly AA feels he may have done something wrong.
I have flown quite a bit on quite a few carriers, and I have never anything like this on a flight. It simply doesn't normally happen. That said. it seems like the incident happened long before the guy got out of his seat. So, if he was that concerned originally, why did he even get in his seat? It sounds like he was threatening the employee without knowing exactly what had happened. It's not like the employee struck the woman on purpose.

javabytes

I don't think SeaHawg said anything to the contrary...

mkjr

The posts in this thread make me lose hope for humanity.

Annerk

I consider it more of a warning than a threat. The little man who started the entire situation should have been removed--he was obviously the one who was most likely to cause injury to someone. He had already proven that.

Annerk

Row 2 starboard has a very clear view of the front of the plane and end of the jetway. He was in F so would have boarded several minutes or more before the women with the children. The woman who was behind her in the jetway was also obviously very concerned about the FA's actions, as she voiced her concern to the pilot and FA.

The FA's antagonistic and aggressive behavior tells me everything I need to know about how he treated the woman and his intent. As mentioned earlier in this thread, I saw him or his doppleganger be very rude and aggressive towards a disabled passenger on a SFO originating flight about two years ago.

SeaHawg

You read into it correctly. After reading the accounts of other passengers on that flight, it seemed like a case could be made to de-plAAne the three people directly involved in escalating this to the point of near blows.

I believe the woman was whiny and felt she was entitled - some have reported that she had a double stroller that could not fit into that particular OHB - don't know if that's true or not, but I could see where a GA may take issue if it was indeed oversized.

The male flight attendant is a hothead, and he needs to be taken down a couple of notches- if not fired. Wrestling with a passenger and appearing to cause bodily harm is not a good look for any airline staff. Don't even get me started on the pitiful statement released by the AA FA union.

The male who got in a shouting match with the FA seems like a fake tough guy who was trying to play hero.

All of them should have been escorted off and allowed to cool down.

This is not a Dr. Dao case - far from it.

JonathanK81

Wow. Just wow. People cannot stand-up for others anymore, lest be called a "fake tough guy." Well, you know what? I hope the world is more full of these so-called "fake tough guys" then. He stood-up for a woman in distress. I don't find anything wrong with that. You can call me the same, because I would have done the exact same thing he did. Sitting there, watching, and not saying anything. That sounds like what you want passengers to be. Non-feeling robots.

SeaHawg

Acting tough and being tough are two entirely different things. He stood up and started talking trash to the FA, who was already digging himself a potentially career-ending hole. I fail to see what he accomplished besides escalating the situation even more.

I feel like the woman who was repeatedly chastising the airport security in the Dao video made far more of a statement than Mr. Toughguy in 3D

Fanjet

Yes. The woman did not want to check it planeside. And which is how it is suppose to be. You leave it by the plane door, and when you land, they bring it back up for you to pick up.

JonathanK81

This we can agree with. I do believe he didn't help by escalating. I don't know if I agree about "talking trash." We all respond differently. I'm sure I would have said something as well, like I stated. I do agree, I wouldn't have told the FA I would lay him flat out or whatnot. But I'm more apt to use words than violence, or the threat/potential of violence.