Praying passenger is removed from plane
 

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?se...cal&id=6087053

Weird situation. Things would've been different if the guy was in the bathroom, I'm sure...

Antisamatic?
 

I'm sure the first thing comes in this man's mind is to sue the crew and airlines for being antisamatic

I am sure we will get a flood of "the poor guy was just practicing his religion". Obviously the action was taken with the intent provoke a reaction.

I'm sure you would not see the same on EL-AL. After all, a plane full of devotees would not have the space to allow this sort of behavior even if they wanted to.


Where is judge Judy when we need her?

Regardless of your religion, failure to follow flight crew instructions is a problem.
Had the plane taken off with him in this position, and he flew into the wall, I'm sure you would have seen a hefty lawsuit.

For a change, it would be nice to see a Judge throw the book at him and fine him for causing a disturbance.

I wonder why the "friends" did not advise him that this was going to be a problem.

That would be anti-semitic. He has no grounds - it is the law that one must obey uniformed cabin crew whilst on board the plane.

The passenger was removed for failing to follow crew member instructions. Period. Full stop. He could have praying, meditating, running in place, or blowing bubbles; it doesn't matter.

There's enough bigotry and overreaction around. There's no need to invent it where it doesn't exist.

Thanks for the correction. Last time someone, again with United, made a big scene about bringing his "Fish sandwich" into the plane because it's Kosher and he was asked to throw it away because it was so stinky in the cabin and people were complaining. And he accused United of being anti-semitic and for having no respect for his religious believes even though everyone in the cabin was complaining.

yes you are 100% correct as if instructed to sit, you have to sit but if i may point out 1 thing from the article and a personal observation.

i have taken many an early jkf-sfo flight on ua and have seen many chasidim complete with tallit & kippah praying in the gate area so my question is why could he not pray prior to boarding the aircraft?

now, from the article with the bolding mine...

.......stood near the lavatories and began saying his prayers while the United Airlines jet was being boarded

my read on this is that the a/c was still in the boarding process and not ready to be "buttoned up". if in fact the case, there are other pax still boarding the a/c, still in the aisles, stowing luggage, etc so why not give him the 2 minutes as the pax 2 friends asked?

just looking at it from both sides. :)

"I'm sure the first thing comes in this man's mind is to sue the crew and airlines for being antisamatic"

Probably for being antisemitic too. Were this story about anyone doing anything other than praying, it would not have made headlines. The mere intonation that there's a story here is enough to make news agencies pick it up.

You can't disregard FA instructions, period. That's the law. This includes things like praying. Being highly religious doesn't make what he did any better than the jerk sitting up front using his/her phone after the FA has instructed that all electronics be turned off.

yea i did lift the title from the article...i added the part about the "failing to follow crew orders"

i do think its weird that it happened while boarding...

i agree where you mention "while boarding" as from my post above, i've seen praying in the gate area prior to boarding.

There is an expectation of reasonableness - if the flight was actually boarding, the guy should have asked the FA is this was a good place to stand, he needs about 5 minutes and won't be able to move during that time. Likely he picked his spot unknowingly in the way of the crew and they played a power game. This is if the flight was truly still boarding - none of us know what the timing actually was.

All of that said - calling the police to remove the guy seems beyond excessive. I was once asked for identification by an FA -- this is outside the bounds of their job and they are not supposed to do this other than checking for age when buying alcohol. I refused, but did comply with what was his third request for just my bp ... the entire story is a long one but the guy was totally wrong and his actions inappropriate. Not only did I not get in trouble, but my complaint didn't quite get him fired (although I might be wrong on that one, I believe he was a problem child from something else I heard), but he was seriously sanctioned as a result.

To me - your "jump when they say jump" attitude is as bad as the meek cattle going through security with no question as to what/why/how.

Please show me where in the article the person displays intent to provoke a reaction.

With the religious implications on this one, it's understandable why the TSA doesn't want to touch this one.

But it begs the question....who removed him -- someone from Wackenhut?

UA.com says the flight left four minutes late due to 'Air Traffic Control.'

After "delaying" the plane, and the time it took to get the man off the plane, the plane still left on-time.

What gives?

Why "obviously"? This guy didn't follow crew instructions and held up departure. He should have been removed, and he was. All it proves is that stupidity isn't confined to any one religion.

This is one of those situations that I think better communication probably would save alot of problems. That being said I wouldn't want to pass judgement on this without more info..
Cheers
Howie