Originally Posted by
jaysona
However the dude was a pretty big douche-bag baby too. When airline crew tell you to get off a plane, you get off and deal with the reasons - whatever they may be - at the gate and sort it all out later. The law is quite clear about following crew instructions and the consequences for not doing so, which happens to be a federal crime.
What information do you have that leads you to believe the passenger was a "pretty big douche-bag baby"? Are you speculating in the absence of any evidence? Why do you think attaching a demeaning label is an enlightened or mature approach?
The law is indeed quite clear about following crew instructions
in the interests of safety, but this is so clearly not the case at hand here. Any assertions of a federal crime being committed by the passenger - based upon publicly released information - are slightly out of whack. And by slightly, I mean like, way out past left field.
It may be fine for some to adopt your meek sheep suggestion, but there are situations in which declining an inadequate offer to volunteer to bail out an airline become justified, regardless of status, fare paid or time of check in. Saying 'no thank you' should not make one a "douche-bag baby" in the eyes of any halfway compassionate person.