Passenger pulled from UA flight for misunderstood question?
 

Just came across this blog post:

If true, this seems like a major overreaction from the FA who could have asked, "Sorry, could you repeat that?" Thoughts? Anyone heard more about this incident?

United removes passenger for asking if they are serving a meal!!!
 

from: http://consumerist.com/2010/07/unite...be-served.html

quick summary:

a 1st class pssenger asked "Are you serving any meals during our flight?" " and then two Austin cops came and removed him from the flight!

The FA thought he asked if there were police on the flight!

Seems pretty obvious that there is A LOT of info missing from that post...

(Clarification: I meant the original blog post...not the FT OP's)

Compensation?
 

Wonder what compensation they offered a 1K member for such a silly missunderstanding?

Why didn’t the FA clarify with the guy why he was asking if a LEO was onboard before going into 9/11 Changed Everything™ mode?

Another, "the FAs are always right". It is sad to see what this country has become. We are afraid of our shadows.

He should receive IDB compensation. What a scumbag that UA pilot is. :td:

Unbelievable! This is how United FA's treat their passengers? Couldn't she have asked him to repeat the question?

Even if the question "Are there any police on this flight" had been asked, what's the problem with that? It's not like that's making any threat at all.

What if someone had locked their carry on bag (like some of us on this board do) and lost the key? Wouldn't it be reasonable to ask if there was a police officer on board to help with opening it, since sometimes police have some lock-opening skills that they've been taught? In that case, it would be akin to asking for a doctor for a sick patient.

I'd want the name of the FA in this case, and would start writing to United to demand that she be fired. I'd actually try to start a letter writing campaign about getting her fired, if I were in this guy's shoes. Wouldn't that be sweet revenge...

What would it have mattered if Sugarman had actually been asking for police anyway? Hasn't TSA done a good enough job security our sterile areas of the airport? Can't they keep us safe? ;)

WOW... that sounds a pretty extreme action ...

Already posted here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...l#post14333697

Duplicate thread.

Passenger pulled from UA flight for misunderstood question?

As usual, gaping holes in the full story.
Draw wild conclusions starting.. now. :p

What if he was referring to the band "the Police".:) If I were this guy I would be furious? This is almost too sad to be believed.:mad:

+100

The FA should have said "Sorry, can you repeat your question?" instead of this over reaction.

Why is everyone surprised? These are the kinds of things that happen when you live in a burgeoning police state.

Another stupid UA crew with a security infatuation. Needs to find another job - on the ground.

Do all UA crew members sleep under their beds at night 'just in case'?

Morons.

What are you talking about? :confused::rolleyes:

It might be a FA with a significant hearing loss who needs a hearing check. My wife says that I am the Mr Magoo of the hearing loss world (inappropriate responses to misunderstood conversations).

While I agree the FA should have asked to have the question repeated, I think it should have been pretty clear to the pax that the FA misunderstood, given her response. In that case a "ma'am, I think you may have misunderstood me. My question was..." may have solved the problem.

That said, in NO WAY do I think this absolves the FA of blame in this situation nor do I think the outcome was in any way justified.

Name one.Actually United Express (Skywest) I believe, but your point stands.

Might explain why the FA was umm... confused :rolleyes: by a question about meals. At 6am why didn't OP ask about breakfast?

i'm sorry, but something just doesn't add up...

yes, i may be old and bald ;) but "are you serving any meals during our flight?" does not even remotely sound like "are there any police on this flight"

something doesn't add up

Not only does the FA need to be fired, the Pilot and the police officers need to be disciplined.

You can sit with izzik on the sidelines then.

Sorry but this blog posting is one of many countless, half-baked airline complaint stories whose chain of events sound completely unrealistic / ridiculous.. 99% of these tales end with the signature line of.. "I'll never fly _____ Airlines again!!" Yes, I acknowledge that I'm jaded .. but if this blog story is truly accurate without any missing or exaggerated details, then it would be one of a kind.

You're Suspect!
 

I am immediately suspicious of this story. A 1K flying out of AUS asking for a meal on CRJ? He should know better then to ask, this smacks of a plot!

/I keed!
//Not really, I haven't got a meal on a United flight domestically in 6 months.

Do we really, honestly think that a flight attendant, a Captain, one or more police officers and at least one gate agent were all in cahoots and removed a 1K from the flight simply because he asked if there was a meal or even asked if there were police onboard?

We're hearing one side of the story and while I'll admit a certain bias for the airline crew if it was that simple to get someone kicked off a plane half the passengers on every flight I've ever been on would be asked to leave the aircraft.

I am not saying that the blogger was a legitimate security threat and I am sure a midunderstanding of some sort occurred...but I don't think we've got all of the facts.

Obviously he was just starting a game of Chinese Whispers, in fact OMNI should start that game, could be fun.

Of course we don't THINK it is possible. We KNOW it is. While this particular case may have a completely different reality, those of us who endure airline travel these days know that such a scenario is entirely possible, and it really wouldn't surprise many of us.

I would suggest calling out UnitedPR to put this story to rest, but, well, you know... :rolleyes:

Did we ever figure out what was up with AA and the FA who supposedly hated orange juice? (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...deral-law.html)

Or the UA pilot who diverted a plane to deboard a purser? (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...july-13-a.html)

Would this be the same UnitedPR that crapped themselves when a YouTube music video about them breaking a Taylor guitar went viral?

I firmly believe 10 to 15 percent of cabin staff are sociopathic and / or mentally ill. This passenger found one of them.

This story bears out my theory that one should avoid all eye or verbal contact with flight attendants until one has observed their behavior for awhile to determine whether or not they're wound properly. I am not kidding. A couple of years ago I had an FA attempt to pull me off a flight for saying good morning -- and indicating, in a friendly way, that I'd seen her and her crewmates in the hotel lounge last evening.

That's the last time I say good morning to any FA without confirming they are not insane.

Unquestionably plausible. Yes.

And that in itself reveals what a pathetic state of affairs it is. :(

Has this been reported anywhere other than the blogosphere?

Every blog entry that I read about this incident seems to be attributed to the removed passenger's website, joesugarman.com.

I can't help but wonder if it is an internet marketing ploy.

I ran across it on Fark, which linked to The Consumerist.

To repeat myself, what's significant to me is that the story is plausible, or do I mean truthy. ;)

When I saw the blog post's title, "What is America coming to?", I figured this was the pretext for a rant against one or more of the political parties. Didn't see one but like others have said, I'm surprised that someone who flies so much has never run into an incompetent airline employee or a screwed up airline process and then, when it happens, assumes that the country is falling apart.

When the blame is placed on "security" or "an abundance of caution" or some similar drivel and the employee(s) in question aren't terminated on the spot (and physically deplaned instead of the passenger), then yes the country is falling apart.

If Mr. Sugarman, the blogger in question, is accurate in describing what occurred, I'm surprised the flight attendant didn't lock herself in the cockpit for security reasons rather than run the risk of being taken hostage by this. :rolleyes: I also wonder what her activities consisted of the night before the flight if she truly mistook "are meals being served" for "are there police on the plane?" :p

Pathetic and sadly plausible. :td:

No, I believe that a FA who was either ultra paranoid about security or on a power trip decided she wanted him removed, and exaggerated he situation to the captain. Rather than investigating the situation himself, the captain, probably also ultra security paranoid, took the FA's word and decided to remove the passenger "out of an abundance of caution" :rolleyes: (hate that phrase). The GA had nothing to do with it. It doesn't sound like the police did anything other than inspect the passenger's ID and probably run a warrant check. While I disagree with that action--cop had no legitimate grounds to demand papers from this passenger--the police had nothing to do with the passenger being evicted, and it doesn't sound like the police detained him for more than a few minutes.

The inevitable problem in these situations is that at each escalation level, the person being escalated to (e.g., captian) doesn't stop to think if any of this makes sense. Instead, he takes at face value what the person says, embellishes it a bit in his own mind, and then escalates his own escalated version to the next level. All it would take is stopping to think and asking a few questions, but that goes against the culture of paranoia and "abundance of caution" that has been fostered.

That is how we get passengers thrown off planes for asking about meals, flights diverted because BOB is written on a barf bag, people's personal private property such as laptops detonated by bomb squads, custom-battery packs confiscated by TSA, special-ed teachers with leather bookmarks arrested and threatened with $10K fines.

One of the few ways to stop this BS is to start holding accountable the people who make these ridiculous escalations instead of rewarding them for their paranoia with commendations and awards. The operating rule should be "reasonable caution" not "abundance of caution," and when escalation beyond reasonable caution is evidenced, there should be consequences.

If you honestly believe this sort of thing doesn't happen almost exactly as described by the blogger, you either have not flown much in the last 9 years, have not read the many many stories about similar incidents, and/or have an irrational bias in favor of airline employees that prevents you from accepting the level of paranoia and/or power-tripping that is present among some front-line airline employees.

I have to agree with BearX220, I've seen FA's fly off the handle for some of the most innocuous things. It really isn't a stretch of the imagination to see this happening. In addition, there is no "cahoots" that needs to happen. The FA heard something she thought was suspicious and brought it to the attention of the Captain who decided to remove the passenger. Once that decision was made, there isn't anything the police officers or the gate agent can do about it. Besides, they put him on a flight two hours later.

Maybe it's just me but "be a meal served" and "police officer" doesn't seem like that big of a stretch. Police officer can easily sound like 4 syllables if spoken fast or with an accent. Add in the loud noise from a CRJ/7 with the door open...