Originally Posted by GUWonder
Flight scheduled to go from A to B became a flight going from A to C to D to B and passenger
s going from A to B were not informed until after boarding and additional passengers were loaded. Upon finding this out, a passenger simply makes a light-hearted comment and, to that effect, asked the FA something akin to: "if the plane was going to stop at multiple places (where before it was non-stop) then should he expect that they would be stopping at X, Y, and Z too?" [The tone was not even sarcastic as he was smiling and had a light chuckle when he said it.]
A few minutes later, the FA got the pilot who then came out and yelled at the passenger and told him to shut-up and not bother "[his] crew". And at that time the pilot had him moved to the back. Passenger complied and kept quiet. A few minutes later the pilot came back and kicked him off the flight. The passenger wisely kept his mouth shut and complied fully.
I hope he wrote a nice little letter to NW and got something for it.
Yeah- I hope he did too. That was just WRONG. An integral part of a flight crew member's job is to handle authority responsibly and within the confines of the context in which it is granted. Obviously, not all handle it properly.
Just as a side note- in reference to your comment "accountability has decreased"- in regards to commercial airline security in general- I agree. However, some companies are more sensitive to maintaining proper limits than others- for example- at mine- if I take "action" against a passenger- I've got explaining to do- and reports to fill out. and I better have a really relevant and sound reason. Or things will get very uncomfortable for me. (Thankfully- I have never had to give this policy a whirl-)