<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Points Scrounger:
Could you explain more about "taking off" passengers? I would assume it's rare, involving disorderly conduct, abusive language, etc. and needs to be documented. One FA with a personality conflict can't just do that regularly like the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland as this FA was reputed to do?
For what it's worth, I flew DL recently on a segment where an FA indicated, in a stage whisper to the passenger next to me, with whom she had immediately bonded prior to take-off, that there was an economy passenger that "we need to get off this plane" (her words, and rather unprofessional behavior at that). He seemed OK to me, but was evident that the FA had a problem with him not evident to me from what I observed of his boarding the aircraft. He stayed on.
Getting back to the mother and the kids, I sincerely doubt that airline personnel would tell them to "shut up" and threaten to have them arrested as a matter of course. </font>
I agree that the behavior of the DL F/A in the case you mentioned was extremely unprofessional. If you have questions about a passengers behavior it would be much better to discuss that with the Captain or another crew member. I think the goal in these situations is to try to create as little of a disruption as possible. That means not alerting the other passengers to what's going on if at all possible.
As for reasons to remove someone. We would only remove a passenger if they were creating such a disturbance as to make those around them uncomfortable, or their behavior was so outrageous or suspicious that we could see there would be a problem during the flight that would best be handled on the ground. I would NEVER have a mother and kids removed simply for bringing on too many carry-ons and then questioning me when I ask them to allow me to have something checked. That is the unfortunate nature of my job. Nobody ever wants to part with their carry-ons, yet many people bring more than the allowable amount. It's something that, at least prior to 9/11, we ran into every day on nearly every flight.
If this woman was removed without good reason then she should go to court. All those on board, within hearing distance, could attest to the rudeness of the Flight Attendant. If this became a court case then those people could be summoned to court or asked to make a statement. My guess is that this woman wrote the airline and they responded by apologizing but standing behind the employee. My guess is that the woman will leave it at that because in a court of law her actual behavior will come to light.
I know that there are rude Flight Attendants out there. Sometimes they slip through the cracks during the interview process. I also know that a few can get carried away from time to time. By and large I think at the very most, people would say that they have been handled with indifference rather than been treated downright rudely. I have a hard time believing that Flight Attendants are running rampant throwing people off of planes, yelling at little old ladies and barking orders.
Incidentally, didn't it occur odd to anyone that this Disney World woman was treated rudely by everyone she came into contact with? Even the Police. I still don't buy her story.
[This message has been edited by AS Flyer (edited 10-26-2001).]