Last edit by: hayzel7773
Summary of Events
https://nypost.com/2019/01/21/flight-attendant-says-overweight-passenger-forced-her-to-wipe-his-butt/ - New York Post
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6615261/31st-passenger-forces-stewardess-wipe-bottom-long-flight-Los-Angeles-Taiwan.html - Daily Mail
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201901210016.aspx - Focus Taiwan
EVA's Disability In-Flight Assistance Policy: https://www.evaair.com/en-global/managing-your-trip/special-assistance-and-inquiry/special-assistance/#assistance-during-the-flight
FA/Union News Conference (in Chinese Mandarin): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pt-gYpN1D8
BR Statements
1/21 Post FA News Conference Statement from EVA Air (in Chinese): https://www.evaair.com/zh-tw/about-eva-air/news/travel-news/2019-01-21-pr-publish.html (English summary: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30681664-post60.html)
1/20 Initial statement: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30677669-post11.html
Other Taiwanese Media Reports (in Chinese)
1/21 https://udn.com/news/story/7315/3605843 - includes clarification from BR management post FA union news conference
1/20 https://udn.com/news/story/7315/3604203 - one of the first reports
1/20 https://tw.appledaily.com/new/realtime/20190120/1504018 - another one of the earlier reports (video is not the actual event and this news paper is like the New York Post of Taiwan and Hong Kong)
- Pax boarded last in a wheelchair on January 18th for BR15, LAX-TPE, and he was connecting onto BKK.
- Because of his size, he requests to be seated in an empty row of 3. They happily move him.
- 2hr30min into flight, the man requests that the flight attendant make arrangements for him to use the J class bathroom as he cannot fit in the Y one. The flight attendant inquires with the Chief Purser, who gives the ok.
- 3 flight attendants along with the original FA (She is a deputy purser in charge of the Y cabin) assist him to the restroom so that he can use it. They inform him where the call button is, then shut the door for him.
- One minute later, he rings the call button and the FA's open the door. There, he says that he cannot pull his underwear down; it's off in the front but on in the back. A flight attendant brings a blanket over to cover him as his genitals are now exposed. He whacks the FA's hand and tells her to take that away and help him pull his underwear down. She agrees, dons plastic gloves, and then pulls the back down for him before leaving the lav.
- 15 minutes later, the man says that they can come in and help him now. Upon opening the door, they discover he is still sitting on the toilet with his pants at his ankles. He says, "I'm done. You can wipe my butt now". The flight attendant says she cannot do that, and he berates her, saying she agreed to do it previously and now he already went so he needs her to do it or he's just going to sit in the lav. The CP is called in from rest at this point and an all-call is made.
- After further back and forth with the passenger and conversation between the crew, the CP makes the decision to wipe for him, even though it is made clear they do not do these things. The flight was expected to be extremely turbulent and the FA's decided they could not inconvenience other pax over this situation. CP cannot bear to have her junior crew do it, so she will do it herself while the DP holds the man up. She dons 3 layers of plastic gloves and proceeds to wipe. While wiping, the man moans "hmmmmm, deeper, deeper". After the first wipe, the man claims that he is not clean and demands she wipes again. She wipes a total of three (3) times!
- After the 3rd wipe, they say they cannot wipe anymore. He then says "You better have wiped me clean".
- The pax now demands the FA pull his pants up for him, which she does because she has already been traumatized at this point. He is helped back to his seat.
- Pax goes #2 again later on in the flight, the same scenario plays out again.
- He has flown roughly 20 flights with BR and did not start presenting problems until May 2018 when he allegedly developed health issues.
- According to the FA's, multiple BIP reports have been made against him throughout this year.
- In May 2018 on the same flight, he made the same demands but was struck down. Instead, he defecates into his pants in his seat. Pax complains, leading to a discipline hearing for the FA's as to why this happened in this first place. They are let off with warnings.
- He urinated himself in another instance on a TPE-BKK flight.
- He demanded a Thai crew member change and clean his diaper on a TPE-BKK flight but was struck down. Instead, he let the diaper overflow into the seat.
- On the connecting TPE-BKK flight on the 19th, he spilled juice in his crotch area. When he flagged a flight attendant to get her to bring napkins, he also asked her to wipe. She gave him napkins to wipe and said he could do it himself, to which he replied "You can do better than me". The flight attendant wiped for him.
https://nypost.com/2019/01/21/flight-attendant-says-overweight-passenger-forced-her-to-wipe-his-butt/ - New York Post
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6615261/31st-passenger-forces-stewardess-wipe-bottom-long-flight-Los-Angeles-Taiwan.html - Daily Mail
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201901210016.aspx - Focus Taiwan
EVA's Disability In-Flight Assistance Policy: https://www.evaair.com/en-global/managing-your-trip/special-assistance-and-inquiry/special-assistance/#assistance-during-the-flight
FA/Union News Conference (in Chinese Mandarin): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pt-gYpN1D8
BR Statements
1/21 Post FA News Conference Statement from EVA Air (in Chinese): https://www.evaair.com/zh-tw/about-eva-air/news/travel-news/2019-01-21-pr-publish.html (English summary: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30681664-post60.html)
1/20 Initial statement: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30677669-post11.html
Other Taiwanese Media Reports (in Chinese)
1/21 https://udn.com/news/story/7315/3605843 - includes clarification from BR management post FA union news conference
1/20 https://udn.com/news/story/7315/3604203 - one of the first reports
1/20 https://tw.appledaily.com/new/realtime/20190120/1504018 - another one of the earlier reports (video is not the actual event and this news paper is like the New York Post of Taiwan and Hong Kong)
BR Flight Attendant Sexually Harassed by Gentleman with Disability
#91
Original Poster
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When your job is considered high paying and highly sought after, it is a little hard to garner support for any labor movement in the industry.
#92
Join Date: Nov 2018
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While the news in taiwan chinese...
Basically BR management is more concerned on how air crew has those photo more than officially blacklist the passenger. The particular air crew also had hard time to apply long term occupation sick leave until she decide to make it public. Then BR management approves it right after the media break out
#93
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https://tinyurl.com/ycbfwj62
While the news in taiwan chinese...
Basically BR management is more concerned on how air crew has those photo more than officially blacklist the passenger. The particular air crew also had hard time to apply long term occupation sick leave until she decide to make it public. Then BR management approves it right after the media break out
While the news in taiwan chinese...
Basically BR management is more concerned on how air crew has those photo more than officially blacklist the passenger. The particular air crew also had hard time to apply long term occupation sick leave until she decide to make it public. Then BR management approves it right after the media break out
#94
Join Date: Feb 2014
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So you guys assume that he is a sex tourist just because he is traveling to Bangkok? I mean, this guy is a perv; but there are many legitimate reasons to travel to Bangkok.
#95
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Maybe he was traveling for (relatively cheap) weight loss surgery? So he's a medical tourist rather than a sex tourist?
#97
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I guess there will be two lawsuits. One is the DP and/or EVA suing this passenger for sexual harassment, another would be the passenger suing EVA and/or DP for violating his privacy by having his photo released. Likely he won't be able to board the return flight, but who knows.
#98
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I guess there will be two lawsuits. One is the DP and/or EVA suing this passenger for sexual harassment, another would be the passenger suing EVA and/or DP for violating his privacy by having his photo released. Likely he won't be able to board the return flight, but who knows.
#99
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Bay Area
Programs: UA 1k now; AA (no status); HY Diamond; SPG Platinum
Posts: 707
Looks like BR issued additional statement: https://www.evaair.com/zh-tw/about-e...r-publish.html
Essentially:
1 - passenger has 20 BR flights with no irregularity until last year due to health reasons
2 - cabin crew refused last time and passenger got other passengers to help - cabin crew was not disciplined
3 - this time, the guy requested help for lav 3 times - twice in-flight (handled by FAs once + male cockpit crew once) + once during transit at TPE
4 - BR is balancing between protecting employees and humanitarian concerns. Working with US lawyers to decide what to do
5 - If FAs want to sue passenger, BR will assist
6 - BR will train cabin crews to ensure they know they can decline unreasonable requests
What they should really do is to publish the English version of the statement so people know they mean business.
Essentially:
1 - passenger has 20 BR flights with no irregularity until last year due to health reasons
2 - cabin crew refused last time and passenger got other passengers to help - cabin crew was not disciplined
3 - this time, the guy requested help for lav 3 times - twice in-flight (handled by FAs once + male cockpit crew once) + once during transit at TPE
4 - BR is balancing between protecting employees and humanitarian concerns. Working with US lawyers to decide what to do
5 - If FAs want to sue passenger, BR will assist
6 - BR will train cabin crews to ensure they know they can decline unreasonable requests
What they should really do is to publish the English version of the statement so people know they mean business.
2. I fault BR management for not deny boarding the guy.
3. I had taken care of my grandma when she was on her death bed in last 3 months of her life. It’s not easy to clean human waste even with someone only weighted like 90lbs (my grandma died of cancer and basically couldn’t eat anything for last 3 months). I seriously doubt the passenger has any kind of sexual intent. After all he did ask help and received help from none female.
Clearly this guy health is not suited for flying commercial. He should have been denied boarding or not continue on to BKK.
#100
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: PHL, NYC, DC
Posts: 9,708
FA did say the guy was the last to board so they could not assess his conditions before departure. A Taiwanese "FA Training Company" (those companies that train people who are interested in becoming FAs for the interviews) did say that it should be in airlines' SOP to confirm the wheelchair passengers can use the lav on their own.
2. I dont know when this "Assistance During Flight" section was posted on BR's website. However, if its there before the incident, then either the company failed to incorporate into their SOP, the crew failed to read its policy properly or both.
https://www.evaair.com/en-us/managin...ing-the-flight
I have more concerns about how the company and staff handled the situation than that customer.
#101
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#102
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1. That is not an excuse.... Like saying I rushed through my project therefore it was bad quality and subsequently broke apart.
2. I dont know when this "Assistance During Flight" section was posted on BR's website. However, if its there before the incident, then either the company failed to incorporate into their SOP, the crew failed to read its policy properly or both.
https://www.evaair.com/en-us/managin...ing-the-flight
I have more concerns about how the company and staff handled the situation than that customer.
2. I dont know when this "Assistance During Flight" section was posted on BR's website. However, if its there before the incident, then either the company failed to incorporate into their SOP, the crew failed to read its policy properly or both.
https://www.evaair.com/en-us/managin...ing-the-flight
I have more concerns about how the company and staff handled the situation than that customer.
However, let’s be honest...the pax was also in the wrong. He has a track record of multiple offenses on BR and he should have been banned. The company made a huge mistake with his BIP ranking and it cost them.
#103
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What's a BIP ranking?
The guy was flying coach, so there's no evidence he's a big spender on EVA.
The guy was flying coach, so there's no evidence he's a big spender on EVA.
#104
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BIP stands for blacklist passenger list. Whenever you fly with BR, your ranking in the system is updated if you create trouble. Notes may be made under your name and reports may be made by staff about your conduct. When your ranking drops to a certain level or when enough reports come in, your BIP ranking will be monitored by a team. When you are on the watchlist, the CP will be made aware of you and the crew will monitor closely as well during your travels. If your ranking continues to reflect the poor conduct that has previously been cited, you will be barred from travel on BR (there are very few people on this list). You will only find out upon ticketing or check-in when the system responds back "denied boarding" to the agent or your ETKT. Only in extreme cases if you cause a diversion will your ranking be ignored and you will immediately be barred (the HK celebrity that got knocked out by the captain is an example). In this scenario, it's clear that the reports were either never made or not taken seriously by receiving duty manager (I find it very hard to believe the airline would not notice this man considering a plane had to be pulled off the line so the seats could be replaced). The breakdown led to him not being put on the BIP watchlist and therefore, his conduct was not known to the crew.
This very scenario (minus the ... wiping) happened in 2009. It took BR two years to finally say enough and blacklist the pax. By that time, there was already a lot of grief over him because of the emotional abuse he brought upon the FAs. Crew were scared of flying with him and would call in sick when they saw his name (he was CG so they could see). Mgmt. at the time of the cabin crew div/pax mgmt. division was the current president Clay Sun and the president at the time was the current chairman Steve Lin. I cannot believe the company let the same thing play out again and it seems that no one learned their lesson then when they put dollars over crew.
I foresee a lot of lost bonuses because of this incident in the cabin crew management division as well as HR.
What I find ridiculous is the crew expected a phone call from the company on a Saturday or Sunday from someone high up. No one was working despite the incident because it was not big enough (at the time) to recall people to work. Even the spokesperson did not go back to office; all his statements were made over the phone. The duty manager that received the report processed the report like they normally do and that was it. They did contact her on Monday when they returned to work. The manager she called for time off was not authorized to give anything and she was instead told to go obtain a doctor's verification so the manager could have paperwork to back an alteration to her flight schedule first while HR processed the paperwork upon their return to work. She did not go till Monday after the press conference but said BR would not give time off. I am glad that she has now received three weeks off in addition to back pay, counseling services, assurance she will never fly with this pax again, and all her medical expenses are being covered by BR's insurance. I wish her well and hope that she will continue to fly!
Last edited by hayzel7773; Jan 22, 2019 at 2:58 pm
#105
Join Date: Sep 2015
Programs: MP
Posts: 224
I'm gonna jump on the bandwagon and blame the creepy obese dude here.
I'm not particularly obese myself, but I have been in a rather precarious #2 situation:
One time I flew 13 hours flight right after my wrist surgery. During the flight I popped my codeine (which is an opiate, basically morphine) for pain killer as prescribed by my doctors.
Little did I know at the time (my doctor did not warn me at all) that codeine and high altitude plus dehydration is one heck of a cocktail combination. Soon I had one of the worst headaches in my life. I was so nauseated I could not eat or drink anything without throwing up so I became highly hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) and profusely dehydrated. I was barely aware and my consciousness were slipping in and out. The only thing that I was aware of was the intense headache I had to suffer through.
I barely dragged my lifeless corpse back and forth to the lavatory with one arm in a cast, where I continue to vomit and diarrhea for the remainder of the flight.
STILL. I WIPED MY OWN BUTTS.
I'm not particularly obese myself, but I have been in a rather precarious #2 situation:
One time I flew 13 hours flight right after my wrist surgery. During the flight I popped my codeine (which is an opiate, basically morphine) for pain killer as prescribed by my doctors.
Little did I know at the time (my doctor did not warn me at all) that codeine and high altitude plus dehydration is one heck of a cocktail combination. Soon I had one of the worst headaches in my life. I was so nauseated I could not eat or drink anything without throwing up so I became highly hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) and profusely dehydrated. I was barely aware and my consciousness were slipping in and out. The only thing that I was aware of was the intense headache I had to suffer through.
I barely dragged my lifeless corpse back and forth to the lavatory with one arm in a cast, where I continue to vomit and diarrhea for the remainder of the flight.
STILL. I WIPED MY OWN BUTTS.