Originally Posted by
LARobinson
I think the reason the FA was bold enough to "over rule"(her words) the captain was because what is was doing was so absurd and unreasonable and she probably thought she could reason with him.
I thanked her for trying to intercede, and I gave her one of this "exceptional service" slips. I also told Delta when I talked to them on the phone about it that everyone involved, except the captain, acted professionally and did everything they could to make a bad situation better.
Disagree completely with this.
Hierarchy exists within flight crew for very good reasons and if the FA wants to question the captain's decision, that needs to be done privately, behind closed doors, after the fact (unless it's something truly exceptional like Denzel showing up and slamming some vodka before climbing in the left seat). It's not that the FAs don't know anything about the aircraft, it's just that the captain knows more, especially about its most vital systems.
I know nothing about how airplane HVAC works, so for all we know, something could have been wonky that resulted in the A/C pumping APU exhaust straight into the cabin, and the captain needed to empty the plane as quickly as possible without causing a panic.
TL;DR - If the captain says they need everyone off the plane, I'm going to get off the plane.