fttc

All I can say is that instead of acting at the time on the spot, and have a clear cut investigation, and take swift action and say "every company has a couple of bad apples, but we act immediately if we find out", take some damage, but small and manageable, by hiding it for so long, (it's going to come out sooner or later), it reflects that a much bigger part of the company is rotten, and the damage will be much more severe now. Yes, maybe the pilots is safer now in terms of less likely of being convicted, but the damage to the company reputation is only going to be much bigger.

LegalTender

The lawsuit implies otherwise.

The FAs picture of the iPad was shared with onboard crew.

Quote:

"She pulled out her mobile phone and took a picture of the iPad which, at the time, displayed Graham in the restroom."

Her complaint has been in state court for a year. Only when it shifted to federal jurisdiction did the lawsuit go viral.

NoStressHere

The first report only said they left quickly - they could have removed the camera and then left quickly. To assume the did or did not deal with the camera based on the first story is... well, who knows?

The later posting does provide more information.

If anyone has a copy of the lawsuit, that would provide considerably more than what the headline grabbing media loves to publish.

As to the company trying to "hide it". Not quite sure. If it was my company with almost 60,000 employees, I surely would not be calling the local media to say we record people in the bathroom or even point out one (two) idiots. Every company has bad stuff take place with their employees on a regular basis. Spend a day in legal/HR and you would wonder how the human race survives.

I am not defending WN... just... well... is this the whole story?

NoStressHere

This link provides a bit more detail - from the law office. Not good for WN.


https://www.baumhedlundlaw.com/10-19...mera-lavatory/

ursine1

Southwest flight attendant alleges 2 pilots livestreamed video from inside plane bathroom

smmrfld

See posts #7 and #8 .

NoStressHere

SO,... what should be believe? Why do we always assume the worst? Or did it happen?


"We can confirm from our investigation that there was never a camera in the lavatory; the incident was an inappropriate attempt at humor which the company did not condone."

LegalTender

The 4 flight attendants requested that management preserve the cockpit recordings from the flight to corroborate the details they described in the incident report.

If the CVR isn't available, SWA is likely home free.

The most benign explanation is that Steinaker was set up by two pilots to embarrass her. Glad they're still on the flight line.

fttc

"Steinaker and the other crew members also informed management that Graham and Russell had a short layover in Phoenix and were scheduled to fly to Nashville, and if permitted to leave, the pilots would further remove, hide, or destroy evidence of their wrongdoing. The crew members asked management to obtain the cockpit recordings from the flight to corroborate the details they described in their incident report, as well as the feed from Graham’s iPad and the camera footage from the airplane gate for the flight.

According to the lawsuit, however, the pilots were allowed to fly to Nashville on time with a new staff of flight attendants. Southwest Airlines told Steinaker and the other flight attendants that it would investigate the incident, but also ordered them to not discuss the incident with anyone."

I don't trust companies to investigate themselves. In my opinion, the management should have called in police to investigate it immediately, and hold the plane until the search is complete. I would imagine it's criminal violation in a lot of states to have secret cameras in bathroom, so just the allegation itself should have required police. So I choose to believe the FAs.

fttc

The pilots may be home free, but SWA certainly is not. Even if there is no evidence left, the reputation hit associated with the way it's handled will certainly be there and significant. It's on every news channel.

And even if I were the pilots, I wouldn't be toasting yet. If Weinstein can be arrested for what supposedly happened many years ago, I can certainly see the same possibility for the two pilots.

smmrfld

Drama much?

fttc

You certainly are entitled to your blindness.

smmrfld

Yes, and I’ll take your advice to wait for fare sales and continue to fly them. And I’ll even use the lav!

fttc

Of course, this is a free country. Since you are taking my advice, here is another one for you then. Just pray a picture of you with your butt don't show up here someday.

oreocookies

Yikes. If this flight attendant did take a photo of it with her cell phone, it seems pretty clear cut. The company should've immediately investigated to gather the equipment and any evidence, saved the cockpit recorder, and suspended the pilots. This is such irresponsible behavior. The company says they investigated and there was no camera but like... duh, if the pilots were allowed to waltz out of the plane quickly, violating protocol - gee, I wonder where the camera could've gone?

Here's the thing, these creeps, Terry Graham and Ryan Russell, are still flying planes for Southwest. How can I check and make sure they aren't flying a plane I am on? I emailed Southwest when I found their response to the Max 8 inadequate, and they later reversed course by grounding Max 8s. I might need to email them again...

P.S. This story has been picked up by the New York Times. Good luck simply trying to brush this under the rug, Southwest: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/26/u...steinaker.html