sky marshall out of control
 

i am a northwest airlines platinum elite, million mile flyer. today while bording a flight in atlanta,ga to detroit, i gave my bording pass to the gate agent, he scanned it and told me to go ahead, i then started down the jetway to the plane, put my other ear bud in my ear from my ipod and when i got close to the plane another passenger behind me tapped me on the shoulder to tell me the gate agent wanted me back up at the gate, i hadnt heard him calling for me. i then went back to the gate, and he had scanned the wrong side of my boarding pass. i apologized for not hearing him, and he apologized for scanning the wrong side of my pass, he was very nice, and i was the same. i then continued to the plane and sat in seat 1B in first class. a short time after, a guy who was boarding came to me and started yelling at me that he could and should arrest me, but that he would not arrest me and that i should have gone back to the agent, which i did. this guy was loud and rude to me and just went off on me in front of everybody in first class, to show everybody who he was. the guy sitting next to me was shocked as was everybody else, this guy was completey out of control, and scared the heck out of me. i would like to know if anybody can give me some pointers how to handle this or should i just forget about it?

No advice, but a question. Is your Shift key broken? Kinda hard to process all the information.

You don't mention how you knew he was a sky marshall?

Yes, that's a rather significant conclusion with no evidence whatsoever.

Also, spelling errors are not usually something which I consider worth a comment, but this mistaken spelling of "marshal" as "marshall" is so common that I think it is OK to mention a reminder. The double L version is a last name, single L is for law enforcement (as in Marshal Dillon).

And then some.

Welcome to FT.

Whether or not the person was a sky marshal (marshal is brit english, marshall is american english, but marshal is also used in the US), first tell the purser that you are being harassed by another pax; if they don't respond, get a complaint form from the purser and get the pursers name and the pax's seat number. copy to the agency which runs the sky marshal program.

Given the mission of the FAM program, I highly doubt this was a FAM as the boisterous behavior would blow the cover unnecessarily, since he did not actually perform an interdiction of any kind. If I were a betting man, I would put this down to an overzealous non-FAM LEO with his panties in a bunch, or, just as likely, a wannabe LEO, who just wanted to push buttons.

"Show me a badge or get out of my face, tough guy."

delete

Being a member of FT is not a prerequisite to being a frequent flyer or having status on an airline! :td:

FWIW - The OP landed in chat prior to figuring out where to post his question. A newbie to FT still learning their way around.

Exactly what I was going to say, but Spiff beat me to it! I've used these very words on more than one occasion. It's amazing how quickly these wannabes retreat. In my experience, law-enforcement officers don't really need to threaten to arrest people; they can simply arrest them and often do. And yelling first is truly unusual among LEOs; they have developed into a fine art the skill of making the other guy go off, which then justifies escalation on the LEO's part. If you say to an LEO, "I know that you are trying to make me lose my temper, but it won't work on me," they change their demeanor immediately. ("Your Jedi mind tricks won't work on me, Skywalker!" :) )

Bruce

Absolutely. Then go on to inquire exactly what crime you committed or are suspected of committing.

Demand to see their ID, write down their information, and then report them to the appropriate authorities, and maybe the news media if you are so inclined.

You may have less problems and better luck "asking" and not "demanding".

From what I read, and what it sounds like in the OP, this guy was probably not a sky marshal or an actual LEO. If he failed to show any kind of ID, I'd say he was either a cop with no jurisdiction having a power trip moment or someone pretending (maybe a security guard or traveling TSA person). I doubt that an undercover sky marshal is going to make a scene in front of the passengers, so that probably rules out that possibility. In any case, if he had the probable cause to arrest the OP, I think any reasonable officer would have done so sans loud empty threats. By demanding to see his or her ID instead of meekly asking for it, the bully may just as well back down and eat their own words. People have a right to fair treatment by LEOs; making loud threatening statements like this for no reason is frowned upon by reputible law enforcement agencies as unprofessional. I'm assuming, of course, that the OP is telling the whole story, and not just his or her version.

THANK YOU SPIFF for saying EXACTLY what I was feeling. Badge me or get the f*** out of my face. Better yet, if you have reason to arrest me, then do so. If not, go pull your power tip with someone who's far more easily intimidated than I am. On second thought, I probably would have just put the ear buds back in and put my head back as soon as the verbal assault started. That way you've ignored this rube AND kept your cool at the same time.

--PP

I don't think TSA people actually fly. The last time I was through SJC on AS I had trimmed my OLCI BP to size rather than folding it. The post arch BP checker went on and on about how I had removed important data and that I should never trim that 8.5x11 inch paper. :rolleyes:

Now what can you do with a situation like that? I probably should have asked for a complaint form, but my time is worth money and I didn't feel like writing a TSA training manual for them.

I can tell you that from now on I'm going to make a paper-doll of my BP and remove all unnecessary white space. Seasoned travelers travel light, right?

Why I can make a hat... or a broach... or a pterodactyl... :)

It looks just like a big Tylenol!

Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue...

Of course, the sad thing is people have been shot on the jetbridge for not responding to marshalls.

Wear earbuds or be deaf at your own risk. Welcome to America.

As if that's all he did......:rolleyes:

Quote:
Originally Posted by VideoPaul
It looks just like a big Tylenol!

Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue...


Do you like gladiator movies?

My orders came through. My squadron ships out tomorrow. We're bombing the storage depots at Daiquiri at 1800 hours. We're coming in from the north, below their radar.
When will you be back?
I can't tell you that. It's classified.

Any bets that FAMs will kill more unarmed people before the program is cleaned up?

"Cleaned up?" This implies it was a bad shoot, which it was not. As in, if the program had been "cleaned up" Alpizar would not have been shot. Which is completely and utterly false.

The program needs cleaning up in more than one way.

Obviously, one can make a demand w/o anger or implied invective attached, for example: "May I see your ID?" vs. "I'd like to see some ID, please," said in a calm, steady voice. I'm not sure that couching such a command -- yes, they are compelled to produce ID -- in the form of a questions buys one any better luck or fewer problems, per se.

That answers a question I am sure. Just not mine.

No need to answer a question you asked and answered for yourself -- especially as the question doesn't say as much about my post as it says about the read/misread of my post. That is, my prior response to your post has the answer in it.

i always trim it so it fits in my wallet and have never had an issue with TSA

I think you are correct that there's no guarantee that "authority" won't bounce off the wall anyway.

How does it need to be "cleaned up?" In what ways? And in what ways that will prevent other "unarmed" people from being killed?

How should the crew react to a pax barking threats at another pax? This is at the gate. Things could get worse later in the air.

Depends on the situation. If this was my aircraft and the pax actually did turn out to be an LEO of some sort (on a powertrip), I would tell them to sit down and shut up for the duration of the flight. If it was a civillian pretending to be an LEO, I would probably offload them.

That's a very sensible answer. Thank you. ^

Bruce

Have you ever been in a turkish sauna?

In my experience trying to get information about the person in question only leads to further problems for you.

Given the erratic behavior of the person that allegedly verbally abused you, why didn't you, another passenger, or the flight crew immediately report the incident to the authorites as clearly in your judgement this was "unusual behavior", and I believe on the day of the purported incident we were on "orange alert". That's right, "ORANGE". Had you failed to do so and this person meant harm, it might be construed that you unknowingly abeted the person.

I would have exited the plane, waited until the individual was securely sealed in the aircraft, and then reported the incident to the police. There is certainly no reason for you to be subjected to a more unpleasant flying experience then it has become. It will also give the TSA, airlines, etc. a couple of things to think about. What is the person doing on the plane, and why did you exit the aircraft?

There are Ghandian forms of passive resistance that can be used by those who have a need to travel which creates a percieved need for their existence and pays the bills for those that resort to predatory practices in the name of security.

This fog is getting thicker.
And Leon is getting laaaaarrrrrger.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines.

--PP