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-   -   EWR AS F/A yelling evacuate (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alaska-airlines-mileage-plan/1985682-ewr-f-yelling-evacuate.html)

boycruz Sep 2, 2019 10:21 pm

EWR AS F/A yelling evacuate
 
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/...e-14408085.php

s0ssos Sep 2, 2019 11:30 pm

This illustrates the ridiculous of TSA. I thought they were supposed to screen people? If so, how would the men have a gun? Or bomb?

s0ssos Sep 2, 2019 11:30 pm

Oh, and since we don't know anything about the men yet, let's see if the gate agent actually knew the most dangerous type of men in America. If these were 2 white men.

aroundtheworld76 Sep 3, 2019 8:36 am

The article says the two men were later allowed to board.

JacksonFlyer Sep 3, 2019 9:21 am


Originally Posted by s0ssos (Post 31484464)
Oh, and since we don't know anything about the men yet, let's see if the gate agent actually knew the most dangerous type of men in America. If these were 2 white men.

I know that speculation is the food for Flyertalk but I will wait until the facts come out prior to having an opinion.

cayohueso Sep 3, 2019 9:26 am

If this situation resulted in a missed connection or some other sort of travel misfortune based on this employee's apparently erroneous suspicion ( the threat boarded after) would Alaska have any liability? Not just on Alaska but any airline?

84fiero Sep 3, 2019 9:34 am


Originally Posted by s0ssos (Post 31484459)
This illustrates the ridiculous of TSA. I thought they were supposed to screen people? If so, how would the men have a gun? Or bomb?

And the ridiculousness of this paranoid AS employee...over-reacting and inciting panic because she thinks she's an FBI field agent or something. She should have simply called the police if she really thought the two men were suspicious and let them handle it according to procedure. It's a wonder no one got hurt from a trip, slip, or fall accident during the chaos - those were the real dangers.

NoLaGent Sep 3, 2019 9:44 am

The mods should probably change the thread title as well since it was a GA that pulled the fire alarm as they were about to board and yelled for pax to evacuate, not an FA.

mauve Sep 3, 2019 9:47 am

Does anyone have any idea what really happened? AFAICT, a GA freaked out over two men boarding for some reason and pulled the fire alarm.

Then they evacuated the plane. Is that the correct response for a fire alarm in a terminal?

Then somehow NYPD SWAT showed up? Wouldn’t that response have taken a while? I thought that the Port Authority handled normal policing at airports.

None of this seems like the normal response to a GA freaking out or a fire alarm, so she must have communicated something very specific to the police.

jinglish Sep 3, 2019 9:52 am

The linked SFGate article actually says that the fire alarm was pulled by an FA, but at the gate.

NoLaGent Sep 3, 2019 10:10 am


Originally Posted by mauve (Post 31485867)
Does anyone have any idea what really happened? AFAICT, a GA freaked out over two men boarding for some reason and pulled the fire alarm.

Then they evacuated the plane. Is that the correct response for a fire alarm in a terminal?

Then somehow NYPD SWAT showed up? Wouldn’t that response have taken a while? I thought that the Port Authority handled normal policing at airports.

None of this seems like the normal response to a GA freaking out or a fire alarm, so she must have communicated something very specific to the police.

There are other articles (CBS New York, for example) online that have better detail than the SFGate one posted in this thread. From all accounts, it sounds like the vast majority of people were still in the boarding area, not on the plane. And it's a pax that uses the SWAT word, when the official quoted is Port Authority Police.

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/09...es-terminal-a/


Originally Posted by jinglish (Post 31485880)
The linked SFGate article actually says that the fire alarm was pulled by an FA, but at the gate.

An earlier version may have, but it doesn't now.

aroundtheworld76 Sep 3, 2019 10:13 am


Originally Posted by mauve (Post 31485867)
Does anyone have any idea what really happened? AFAICT, a GA freaked out over two men boarding for some reason and pulled the fire alarm.

Then they evacuated the plane. Is that the correct response for a fire alarm in a terminal?

Then somehow NYPD SWAT showed up? Wouldn’t that response have taken a while? I thought that the Port Authority handled normal policing at airports.

None of this seems like the normal response to a GA freaking out or a fire alarm, so she must have communicated something very specific to the police.

Probably just a reporting error. The PAPD has jurisdiction and if they need mutual aid, it would likely come from Newark and Elizabeth PD well before calling for help from NY.

boycruz Sep 3, 2019 11:55 am


Originally Posted by NoLaGent (Post 31485853)
The mods should probably change the thread title as well since it was a GA that pulled the fire alarm as they were about to board and yelled for pax to evacuate, not an FA.

The airline employee tried to confront the men and then pulled a fire alarm, which led to the evacuation around 8:30 p.m., the authorities said. It was not immediately clear what had prompted the flight attendant to be suspicious of the men, who were later questioned by the police and then allowed to board.

NoLaGent Sep 3, 2019 12:02 pm


Originally Posted by boycruz (Post 31486379)
The airline employee tried to confront the men and then pulled a fire alarm, which led to the evacuation around 8:30 p.m., the authorities said. It was not immediately clear what had prompted the flight attendant to be suspicious of the men, who were later questioned by the police and then allowed to board.

As already noted upthread, it's a reporting error implicating the action by a FA. FAs don't scan boarding passes at the Gate, only Gate Agents do.

"As alarms rang out inside an empty Terminal A unattended bags lay scattered across the ground. Around 200 frightened passengers left them behind as they fled the airport following verbal instructions from the gate agent."

nearlysober Sep 3, 2019 12:02 pm

Still lots of unknowns and different points of views from articles. I'll save final judgement until a full report comes out but as a whole... it's better to be overly cautious these days. I think any final report will show that this was an over-reaction, everyone is on edge all the time these days... but you often hear survivors or witnesses after the fact talking about how something felt wrong, the person(s) were giving off bad vibes, acting oddly, etc... and no one intervened.

Maybe the FA/GA had a really strong sense of that? Plus one article says they tried to flee from the employee?


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