gobluetwo

The fact that it is a regional carrier (which was my suspicion in an earlier comment) makes a difference. US will defer to the regional carrier, as they have their own policies, procedures, and staff. At best, you may get, "Sorry about the experience you had, but you'll have to talk to our partner, Mesa." (not in so many words) Staff on regional carriers are notorious for their very strict interpretations of rules/policies, but I wouldn't expect much.

What do DHS/TSA have to do with anything?

tanja

I always thought that a plane can not take off with a passengers belongings if the passenger is not on the plane. That they have to remove everything.

chgoeditor

I'm not a lawyer, but I know enough about the law to know that you're going to waste your money if you hire an attorney.

If someone threatens you with bodily harm, then they may be committing battery. That's a crime, meaning that the state (government) has to press charges. You could report the individual to the police, but hiring an attorney won't convince prosecutors to press charges against them.

"Threatening" someone isn't a crime. A parent can threaten to send a kid to bed with no dinner for hitting their sibling. Your boss can threaten to fire you if you show up late for your shift. A bartender can threaten to throw you out of his bar if you're being belligerent. And an airline can threaten to throw you off the plane if you don't follow its rules. And you know what? That's all legal.

Now, in general, if you suffer "damages" -- financial expenses -- as a result of someone else's actions, you might have grounds for a civil lawsuit. But when you bought your airline ticket, you agreed to something known as the Contract of Carriage. You might want to read it for the airline in question. It is, in fact, a binding contract. And you probably agreed that the airline can remove you from the airplane for all sorts of reasons, or no reason at all. So even if they had removed you and you'd suffered "damages" you probably wouldn't have a winning lawsuit because you agreed to let them remove you from the airline for any reason when you bought your airline ticket.

I'm not saying that you're not right to be upset with the airline, but the fact is, you weren't removed from the flight and you got to your destination as planned. A lawsuit isn't going anywhere and you'll waste your money on legal fees if you try to pursue one.

janetdoe

But they didn't threaten you. Your complaint was that he got in your personal space (towering over you) and he was rude and almost yelling. What was the threat? Nothing. It just made you feel intimidated.

Yes the situation was uncalled for, and terrible customer service. But you are taking this WAAAAY too personally. I keep saying, this is a personal issue for you. You want some sort of acknowledgement that they shouldn't have made you feel that way. But honestly, dealing with these feelings is more a job for a therapist, than a lawyer.
On it's face, the FA's attempt to keep her off the plane, but her stuff off the plane is a direct violation of TSA policy (as tanja pointed out, you are supposed to travel with your belongings). If that truly is policy, it's a loophole that a terrorist could exploit to leave a bomb on a plane. Even if it's not a policy, if it's being enforced as a policy, that is still the same security issue.

And if the FA is stupid enough to make up fake policies out of personal spite, that's a much more serious issue for the airline than 'rude personnel'.

ACtraveler1357

My issue is being threatened to be arrested on the charges of international terrorism, not these two men being in my personal space.

BOShappyflyer

"My issue is being threatened to be arrested on the charges of international terrorism."

As people have said before, that's a bogus charge so I would file a complaint for intimidating you with wrongful charges. I wouldn't necessarily let it drop, but I wouldn't expect compensation out of it (and it doesn't seem like you are angling for that, either). I likely would be satisfied with sincere apologies - not just from the CS folks, but at a higher level or the employees themselves.

Whether race plays into it, I don't know. Discrimination comes in many forms and it's more subtle these days, but the fact that you're the only Asian on the plan doesn't automatically implies discrimination. Likely, others aren't deplaning to get the tag...so it's your action that garnered the attention.

That said, customer service for some US airlines is sub-par compared to other airlines (i.e BA, Cathay), but this could be a hit or miss. I often like to share my story of flying on my favorite airline (elite at the time) and I was taking my family out on a special trip. I waited in First class lane with my family only for the CS to ask me very curtly (rudely, IMHO), "This line is for First class only. Are you flying First Class?" A Subtle but unmistakeable tone that insinuates that we were in the wrong lane. Even my Dad got concerned as he noticed the rudeness of FA's tone (he mentioned to me after the fact). I am hardly a jerk by anyone's standards (low-key kind of gal), but I think I literally had to refrain from smirking back at her as I held up our First class tickets and firmly stated that we are - indeed - flying First Class. Fortunately, the rest of the staff we encountered for the duration of that trip was pleasant. I'm sure if you ask any frequent flyer, you'll get both the good and the bad -- happens to everyone. You got a bad experience this time.

As for the intimidating factor, that's a separate issue and you need to figure out how to assert yourself in different situations.

P.S. Yes, I have heard of some variation of a rule that you cannot re-board once you exit the plane. One time our plane was delayed and a business passenger was visibly annoyed as he packed up his stuff to leave. The FA then stated to him that he cannot re-board once he leaves the plane. It is something I have heard once or twice before, so I would not be surprised if there is some protocol around it because it is in fact a safety and security issue.

Good luck. I think others gave you some good advice. It's probably not worth it to retain lawyers, but a strongly worded complaint would do. Keep us posted.

sbrower

Does not apply to domestic flights.

gobluetwo

Barking up the wrong tree, imo. File a complaint with the DOT and/or FAA, but TSA won't care.

The terrorist bomb thing is the sort of tenuous connection made by TSA to rationalize their security theater. But without getting too far afield, the real point of my earlier post is that regional airlines often have stricter policies than mainline, and the regional airline personnel often have even stricter interpretations of said policies.

And if that's a real security issue, then there are much bigger holes which allowed (but ostensibly should have prevented) that in the first place.

mre5765

Next time you get such a threat, laugh at them, and tell them to bring it on.

Once I forgot something in the gate area. Knowing the rules, I asked the FA if I could leave and to get it. She grudgingly agreed, but only after I told her, that me leaving the item behind was not an option, and I would take my stuff with me and cancel the trip.

Your mistake was not telling the FA what you were doing. Since you left without permission, your letter of complaint will be in vain. However that the flight was apparently going to depart without you, but with your carry-ons still onboard is a major security violation for which the airline should be fined. So you should send your letter to the FAA and TSA, and skip the part about the nasty treatment.

greggarious

My general response to someone blustering about arresting me for some BS reason is to hold out my wrists and say "Ok, if you want to arrest me officer, I won't resist".

They've always backed down.

cbn42

Where is this rule written or announced?

mre5765

IME, it is announced some times, but when it is, it is only at the conclusion of a flight where the FA on the intercom informs people that make sure they have all their stuff when they leave because regulations prevent disembarking pax from re-entering the plan. Of these instances of announcements, usually, but not always, they are for international flights.

And, IME, a pax who leaves a plane before flight departure is almost always engaged in conversation by the FA at the door before he steps through the door.

Spiff

Cite FAR, please?

bocastephen

Yes, please, me too - since I've deplaned a number of times to take care of something at the gate and the only thing the FA told me was to take my boarding pass...thus I am unaware of any FAR that prevents someone from deplaning and reboarding.

Although I cannot cite a specific regulation, I believe there is a regulation buried somewhere (although not FAA or security related) that says you cannot deplane from an international flight for the reason that the airline has transmitted your departure from the US, and if you deplane without the airline knowing, you're now in the US without status and with US immigration thinking you've left - and this is really focused on visa holders, not citizens/residents.

There is a method by which a visa holder can "depart" by boarding the aircraft and then deplaning quietly, undetected in the hustle and bustle of boarding, and depart the airport without anyone knowing. Not a security issue, but a visa/overstay issue.

ACtraveler1357

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Hi, I've been too busy to spend much time on the internet this past few weeks. I'm still quite busy so I'll be back with more updates later (US Airways has incredibly slow customer service, and I also haven't written to DOT/TSA/whatever because I've been so busy!)

First off, I actually exchanged a few words with the FA as I was deboarding, and I don't think I "slinked off", unless you and I have very different definitions of the phrase. This seems to be the big issue amongst the airline sympathizers on this thread; to clarify, we (the FA and I) looked at each other, he asked me if my bag didn't fit, I said yes, and as I walked out he didn't say anything. So I assumed that this is OK (I think I've written this before; maybe I'm mistaken, maybe you need to read things carefully before you point fingers. Whatever, it doesn't matter).

The US Airways customer service is also a funny place. I got phone calls from two different people, who both tried to argue that because I had already been screened by the TSA, my belongings were safe, and that it was OK for the plane to take off with my belongings, without me. When I tried to argue that I had also been screened by the TSA, they basically cut me off and said things like "I see that this conversation isn't going anywhere". All in all, I felt that I didn't even get a sincere apology from the CS, because more than half of the time, they were trying to defend their actions. They were very eager to close my file, so I told them to go ahead, since it was clear that I wasn't getting anywhere with the CS. But I made them note on my file that I was not happy with the outcome, and that I was planning to pursue this via other routes.

Someone else suggested that next time this happens, I should tell the officers to go ahead and arrest me. Well, first of all, I hope that this never happens again! Secondly, I am not an American citizen; I'm Canadian. As a "foreigner" staying in the US on a visa, I try not to do things that might get me deported. Had that happened on Canadian soil, I may have acted differently Perhaps that is why I was more upset by the threat of being arrested, since being arrested could have huge ramifications on my job, my ability to enter the US, and so on.

Finally, as people have repeatedly pointed out, no one that I have spoken to has been able to cite the regulation that says that I am not allowed to deboard once I am on board. I would love to see the citation, if it exists, but even taking that on faith, I still maintain that it is a bizarre experience.

OK! I will come back and keep you updated (threads that promise an update and don't bother me to no end; rest assured that you will hear the conclusion of this story, although I doubt that there will be anything satisfying). Thanks for reading!