Originally Posted by
irishguy28
Your actions caused at least two people to "call out" to you, or to "lecture" you. All because of your prickly reaction to what sounds like nothing more than a normal interaction that happens thousands of times a day at airports all over the world.
If you manage to get an airline employee to "call out" to you, then I think it is unreasonable to assume that the manager - who apparently only witnessed this part - will automatically see you as the reasonable party.
However, even with the benefit of the rest of the story - as told here - I don't think the manager's opinion would have been any different.
All I care about is having the freedom from the automatic presumption of guilt. I haven't done anything to deserve it. I have no sense of entitlement whatsoever. I don't care in the slightest about most of the FF perks that get discussed ad nauseam on these boards. Half the time, I don't even bother availing myself of things like priority boarding, so as not to barge ahead of other passengers.
Only in some sort of extreme police state does expressing disagreement about the way someone has done their job constitute "verbal abuse." I suspect the real problem is a severe lack of accountability among AF staff. In a country where nobody has to worry about losing their job, staff no doubt they feel they can get away with anything.
I have accepted that I should probably have dealt differently with the situation. I do find your zeal to exonerate the airline of any blame whatsoever curious. Still, I realize that for many people, right or wrong matters less than lining up with the strong against the weak. After all, what will I ever do for you? Nothing. A major airline, however, might.