Three Passengers Removed From Flight....
 

Anyone got any details on the three passengers that were escorted off a flight in Charleston, SC for mis-behaving-----then arrested?

Google is your friend....
 

http://www.counton2.com/story/22191069/3-d

http://www.abcnews4.com/story/221900...etained-by-fbi

http://www.live5news.com/story/22190025/three-passeng

http://www.postandcourier.com/articl...engers-removed

This stinks of power tripping. Either Flight Attendant or Passenger and I'm getting the sense it was the FA. Diverting a flight is a rather serious matter with financial consequences to the airport authority and airline. I'd love to hear how the passenger actually refused.

My money is on, "Flying While Muslim" or "Flying While Looking Muslim."

Don't worry about it, it was all just a big misunderstanding. :rolleyes:

Where the sun don't shine?

Seriously, presumably the bags were correctly stowed for take-off so what's the problem with getting them down in mid-air? Definitely something "else" involved here.

Or at a bare minimum, FWB ;)

Whether or not this incident was another FWB incident, FWB covers "flying while looking muslim" because most of the paranoia about "brown" passengers involves paranoia about muslims and a mistaken assumption that most/all muslims are "brown".

Incredible how some of the commentators on this thread "know" what happened on this flight, and are even making this a Muslim issue. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Not one of the stories gives sufficient detail for us to know what really happened! But not one of the stories suggest a Muslim connection.

I doubt that any FA or pilot made the decision to divert lightly. But we simply don't know what really happened.

BTW most Muslims ARE non-white. If you want to create a limited definition of "brown", then fine. But when you combine Indonesian. Pakistani, and Arab Muslims and compare their numbers to Muslims who do not have dark skin, they FAR outnumber them. But that has no relevance to this thread.

GUWonder: do not try to morph this isolated WN incident into a racist issue or into an issue of religious prejudice. Without more facts, how can anyone make this into a racial or religious issue? From what we know, this has nothing to do with race or religion, but only with failure to follow the instructions of a FA.

Anyone who, based on the facts we have, wants to make this into a racial or religious issue, can themselves legitimately be suspected of prejudice.

There was no attempt by me to morph this into anything.

Did you not read when I wrote: "Whether or not this incident was another FWB incident, FWB covers 'flying while looking muslim' because most of the paranoia about 'brown' passengers involves paranoia about muslims and a mistaken assumption that most/all muslims are 'brown'"? The fact is as I stated, whether or not this incident was another FWB incident.

The articles do not give enough details to figure out what happened, but my feeling is that airlines are getting far too divert-happy these days. There have been a couple of incidents recently where flights have been diverted for trivial reasons like a dispute over kids watching movies on overhead monitors. Federal law gives cabin crew a lot of power, and they are starting to abuse it.

That's a long start given that such power has been abused for more than 11 years.

It's not Muslim related and its not power trip issues... Diversions are serious and well FAs don't get paid extra to take a passenger off actually the door is open so FAs don't get paid at all!! Trust me I'm sure the flight attendants am pilots would have rather let him have his bag and made it to Providence so they can get to their hotel and sleep. I'm sure it was last leg since it was after 10pm. So it had to be something more serious and you think and 99% alcohol related.... ESPECIALLY A SWA FA ... They get the worst passengers on a low cost carrier. They prob want nothing more but to be off that plane and in their hotel room sleeping.

You wouldn't know half of the abuse FAs go through on a daily basis. But FAs have power because it protects the airline and all rules FAs enforce are not their personal rules the FAA enforces it... And even fines the FA if she doesn't and you get your certificate that they worked trained and studied extremely hard for pulled from them aka you are fired and it can happen on the spot. Most of the time FAs are reasonable with passengers first and make deals and Then it's the passenger that brings things out of hands and raises voices. That's the case 99% of the time.

And as a FYI the Captain makes the final decision on things it's the the FA who gets blamed if he decides to divert or have the passenger escorted off and arrested... ALL CAPTAIN DECISIONS

http://www.abcnews4.com/story/221900...etained-by-fbi

"Either if it's just being disruptive and not obeying the crews of the flight command, or if it's being problematic with shifting bags and taking bags out of the overhead, both would have spelled or could have spelled trouble for Southwest," said aviation attorney Mary Schiavo.

Schiavo said on average, 12 people a day are injured on flights where luggage is opened or shifted during a flight.

"If you open the overhead bins in flight -- people don't realize this, but every year 4,500 people are injured above the skies of America from items falling from overhead bins," said Schiavo.

Schiavo said it is possible the passenger removed from the plane drew attention to himself because of the shifting luggage, not terrorist like activity.

"If there is something you need then by all means you have to talk to the flight attendant, don't touch them," said Schiavo.

A spokesperson with the Transportation Security Administration said this was a customer service issue with the airline and TSA does not have the authority to make any arrests.

Schiavo said it's also probable this incident was alcohol-induced."

Ok, so this "aviation attorney" seems to know jack and shyte about actual flying, since you don't call an FA over to get stuff out of the overhead for you.

Good to see that TSA actually said that they can't arrest anyone. That's the only part of the article I like.

I need something from my bag in the overhead bin
 

These kinds of decisions are made by the captain using input from the FA's.
I need something from my carryon in the overhead bin. It is a kind of greenish, bluish book bag with a wildlife pictogram on the front. And be careful. The contents are fragile.

So this gives no new info at all. Says we have to follow all directions of FAs (not entirely true) but does say the TSA doesn't have the authority to arrest (that is true). I'm really waiting for someone who was on the plane to post what actually happened.

What a terrible piece of journalism, and what incoherent rambling from the 'authourity' quoted. :rolleyes:

I assume she's an attorney that represents airlines. "Sit down and don't move the entire flight, it's for your safety. And if you don't, its a fine and maybe a trip to Gitmo!!!".

1) How many passengers have received a civil penalty from the FAA for getting something out of an overhead bin on a flight?

2) Has any passenger who did receive a civil penalty actually pay it?

This comment is absurd. Airlines don't do that. The airlines pick on old and frail people or children.

Maybe she thinks that those few brief days of insanity following the shoe-lighter are still in effect ie one cannot have anything on one's lap, one must stay seated the last hour of the flight, etc?! :confused:

None of it makes any sense, even if she is a few years behind the times, especially considering her supposed position. (On a side note, I do know someone in her supposed position for one of the big carriers, and she certainly is far more coherent, rational, and aware of what flying is really like)

Hmm, the men were concerned about their bag so they're terrorists (and please don't tell me that that's not what the quote says, it is absolutely the implication).

Yup, must be alcohol. Because it's always alcohol. Unless it's FWB.

Did this lawyer go to GSL (Googling School of Law) with Francine? Until I read this last article, I felt pretty neutral about the whole thing. It sounds like this lawyer's trying to protect the airline but she's so clueless that she made it worse.

Mike

The airlines in the US have done as PTravel indicated, so his comment is not absurd even as this incident may be different than a FWB incident.

Most FWB denied boarding or deplaned incidents of which I am personally aware have never involved going to the media. A lot of people hit by anti-Muslim bigotry don't do anything formal in response to it -- unfortunate as I would like to see more lawsuits openly won against paranoid airline personnel and passengers that flag down innocent persons at airports and on board planes for "additional" "security" hassles.

I think this is the lawyer in question:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Schiavo
http://www.maryschiavo.com/

Sounds like she's getting those inflammatory sound bites out there to cause baseless speculation in the event she gets any work out of this.

To those of us old enough to remember "Scary Mary" as IG/DoT, that would be true to form.

Okay. They have a hard job. Real hard. Like, customer service hard. Like, complaint desk hard.

But that doesn't mean they are automatically right, 100% of the time, completely beyond question, and totally omnicient.

Nor does having a hard job excuse poor job performance, abuse of power, or breakage of FAA regs or airline policy.

And don't try to lay blame on the captain; just because he's the final authority doesn't mean it's all his fault if the FA lied or misrepresented the facts to him. The captain places a lot of trust in the FAs, and if an FA tells him that something is serious enough to divert, somehow I doubt that he's going to hold a formal inquest to determine all relevant facts before coming to an informed decision; he's going to take the FAs at their word and divert.

However, I won't assume that either party was at fault here. Could have been the passengers' fault, could have been the FA's fault. I'll wait till there is more information before I form an actual opinion.

I will say this - the story sounds fishy based on the skimpy info so far provided. Either these guys were causing a genuine disruption which hasn't been reported, or the FAs went way overboard for innocuous behavior that is not disruptive or suspicious.

They could have been loudmouth drunks, disrupting other passengers or hitting on the FAs - but nothing like that was mentioned in any of the stories. The stories mentioned "suspicious" behavior with luggage.

The FBI took all three into custody, determined that they had broken no laws, and released them - how truly suspicious could their behavior have been if they weren't actually doing anything illegal?

NEED... MORE... DATA!!!

Need more data? No you must have blind faith in the Government, FAs & Pilot. BLIND FAITH.

Think of the Children.


Now that the bull had been said, it's kind of shocking that no reporters have gotten the people to talk which casts some suspicion on their activities unless the FBI has been hard at work spinning its machine.

I'm not a lawyer, but I use the Bob Loblaw Law Blog as a reference. With that, I think I can take on Mary in a courtroom.

Just in case you should stay at a Holiday Inn Express the night before.

"I’m afraid I just blue myself."

Right, they doesn't understand it. Those passengers who doesn't speak a English.

Above the skies?

It's like scuba-diving below the water ;-)

That's funny, huh? I don't think they can do that. Sorry! :(

Call me logical but why do flight attendants and the FBI think terrorists keep all their objects of destruction in the overhead? I'm sure they could fit under the seat. :confused:

The power of visual images: fictional(ized) movies and/or fictional(ized) TV shows.

Shhh...next thing you know, someone will propose lock-on-takeoff overhead bins.

Out of an abundance of caution, of course...

After 9/11, there actually were some people who were clammoring for the disallowal of ALL carry-on items. No bags, no laptops, no snacks or beverages bought airside, nothing.

Out of an abundance of dunceness, of course.

Well, hey, let's not take half-measures. No checked bags either - never know what might be lurking in a checked bag, and there have been security failures in baggage screening too....

Save me, TSA, save me!