Originally Posted by
CART_Flagman
Hmm... several of the airline employees noticed her but did not feel she drunk that they couldn't let her fly. Other passengers didn't complain, or at least you didn't say they did. You didn't say the boy was crying or in any distress. You only stated that they were speaking load and talking on a cell phone - which is really hard to believe you would get a signal 7 miles up in the air.
Apparently, the extra wine didn't cause her to swear or hit her kid or not have her seat belt fastened. What gives? Just two passengers behind them that had nothing better to do with their time that continually "watch" another passenger and make comments behind that person's back. There is a thing called "karma", you know.
Gosh, I guess I better watch out if I have a couple of pre-flight drinks on an empty stomach next time I fly with my family... could get hauled off the plane for it.
For all you know, she could have been on medication or some other problem.
None of the other passengers complained? Well, the only "complaint" we lodged was to have the FA force the passenger to turn off her cell phone, and we were in the best position to see that. I'm not really surprised that no one else complained -- as a passenger, my assumption, absent evidence to the contrary, is that the FAs are professional and are doing the right things to ensure a safe flight. It took nearly the entire flight for me to come to the conclusion that this might not have been the case in that specific instance.
It's hard to believe someone could get a cell signal seven miles in the air? First, at least two cell phone calls went through on 9/11, and possibly more. Second, it's possible that the woman ahead of me was talking to an imaginary friend, but if so, she made a good show of it both before the FA arrived and while she was hanging up. Certainly the FA believed she was talking to someone.
Nothing better to do with our time? We didn't sit and "continually" watch this passenger. I'm not really interested in what other people do or don't do in the air unless it's outrageous. Talking over the FA during the safety briefing was outrageous (we couldn't really hear the announcement ourselves). Making a cell phone call in mid-flight was outrageous.
If you weighed 100 pounds soaking wet, hadn't had anything to eat, and had a couple of drinks before takeoff, you wouldn't be nearly as drunk as Ms 1D was.
It's possible Ms 1D was on medication that impaired her in a way that seemed like it was caused by alcohol. But if so, first, one shouldn't be flying in such a state, and second, one certainly shouldn't be drinking. And further, impaired behavior is impaired behavior, regardless of the proximate cause.