Originally Posted by
aquamarinesteph
I don't know what 'pretty mean' means in this context, but I think the FA has a right to report a passenger who said something which made another passenger feel unsafe. And I would thank the FA who took the time to listen to a statement and report something if told them that one passenger was making another feel unsafe because of certain, specific comments.
That was my thought when I read the initial post. If someone was "pretty mean" to me on a plane, when I had directed nothing toward them personally, I'd probably do something about it too. I get pretty annoyed if someone isn't trying to control their children on a flight, because it's disrespectful to other passengers to not even try. But whether that's the reason for the annoyance or not, it's not a reason for a single passenger to take the problem up with the other passenger.
I was on a flight last month and, while parked at the gate, the woman behind me in F took offense at something the passenger in the row behind her said to his wife (none of her business in my opinion). She confronted him and they went back and forth for a while before the FA reported it to the captain. A few minutes later a UA rep boarded the plane and asked the woman to leave. She wouldn't, and continued to argue until her husband convinced her it was just best for them to go. The UA rep told her they would get her on the next flight, so I assume there were no other actions taken, as the OP is worried about. But the moral is that you're never going to win if you initiate a confrontation.