Opinions on this incident in F
 

Maybe I'm off base, I'm sure others will let me know.

Flying in F on AA 2nd row. Big lightening storm in DFW on Friday so we sit on the runway in AUS for 2 hours waiting to take off as there is a ground hold in DFW.

For me DFW is home so I have no connection worries.

We finally land 2 1/2 hours late and of course everyone is anxious to get off the plane, but because it was rough the FA couldn't give the jackets out to everyone.

An older couple in the bulkhead row had jackets so after the door was open the FA had to go back to get the jackets. While this is happening people are grumbling and pushing behind me.

The older man gets his jacket and proceeds to stand in the middle of aisle and put it on, so I try and sneek buy him so the rest of the plane can get off.

The old man gets upset and shoves me in the chest and says something about waiting for him. I tell him he's holding up and entire plane of people who are trying the catch flights. He says 'we'll I'm late and so is everybody else'.

Now, I had a checked bag so I have no reason to 'hurry' off the plane other than getting out of everybody else's way so they can catch their flight.

Of course I did let him know what I thought of all this, plus I did't appreciate him putting his hands on me.

I say the proper thing to do, is either get off or step into your aisle and put your jacket on, it's not your right to hold up an entire plane of passengers trying to get off.

Thoughts?

You were rude and tried to get past him. He was rude and shoved you. I assume you made the first contact, otherwise he escalated it. Just let it go.

You might expect that, but I've stood in many an aisle waiting for passengers to get their jackets or coats on. You just wait until they're ready to move along.

since you asked for thoughts:
Sometimes "older" men may feel little unsteady especially when someone sneaks past him which in aisle which has to mean some contact or movement, be patient we all will hopefully be older someday.

If you really had no reason to hurry off and wanted to get out of everyone elses way so that they could catch their flights why not just wait a few minutes in your seat so they could get by..

just relax when getting off the plane no need to rush especially if no flight to catch.

Fair enough. Thanks.

I think he was rude and unthoughtful of others. No one cares who he is or what his time situation is, he should have stepped out of the way to let others pass.

Now saying that, if you had initiated contact with him attempting to pass him, I could see if he'd be upset. Him shoving you back though just escalates the situation.

I would think that after this late arrival, everyone was probably grumpy anyway and tensions were high.

Thanks for the generous and polite response to the others in the thread.

The FA should have known that the wx in DFW/DAL could possibly interfere with getting the coats back to the Pax, and maybe delivered them earlier in the flight which could have eliminated the entire confrontation.

JMO

Absolutely agreed. Why the FA didn't distribute coats 5 minutes prior to decending is beyong me. QF these days will more often than not give coats back before the Seatbelt sign goes back on, and prior to landing starting, so that people can disembark as soon as landing is complete.

My personal policy is to be as unobtrusive as possible. I probably would not have tried to sneak by.

regardless the guy did not have a right to shove you. He had a number of other options. It is these types of situations that escalate, and then someone "puts and eye out" :(

I think if you had asked to get by, rather than "sneaking", then you would have shown up the fact he was being extremely inconsiderate to everyone else on the plane. OTOH, I've certainly "maneouvred" ;) around people like that on aircraft, so I can understand why you did it - him hitting you just confirms the impression that he had an overinflated sense of his own importance.

I'm just shocked that coats were taken by the FA in the first place. Just be thankful for that, and every other irritation falls away. ;)

I think that there were multiple issues that contributed to the overall situation, and each could have been dealt with in a better fashion in order to have obviated the situation:

- The FA should have distributed the coats; this is a standard part of the job and they are usually really good at remembering to do this. Of course there are times that other more important activities take priority, like finishing the stowage of any service materials in order to facilitate a safe landing. When that has happened to me in the past, I simply ask the FA if he/she could snag the coats before everyone leaves and give them out at the door. They are always happy to do so. Giving the gentleman his coat at the door would have prevented the in-aisle confrontation.

- The gentleman who blocked the aisle was clearly rude and probably realized that he was holding up the entire planeload of people behind him. He could simply have either stepped aside to let others pass or could have donned his coat outside the plane. This would have been the polite thing to do.

- As another poster pointed out, the OP could have asked before trying to sneak by, and that might have created a non-volatile situation. If, however, the coat-donner would have been obnoxious even after being asked, I think that the OP would just have had to wait.

The bottom line is that there is no changing some people who are either intrinsically rude, pathologically obstructive, or just unhappy in general. Ah, the sense of entitlement of some pax in F :rolleyes:

As far as the FA not distributing coats, hey, it happens sometimes. I think people forget they have other things to do than just be our servants. If, when trying to get by this guy, you said 'excuse me', then he should have either let you by or said 'i'll only be a sec'.
When he puts his hands on me, it's 'Go Time', I don't care who you are or your age. I probably would have looked at him and said something to the effect "touch me again and we'll see how late our discussion with the police make us. I have no problem getting us both thrown off this plane".

To be fair to the FA, it was one of those flights where the pilots told the FA to sit down very early as there were a lot of storms coming into DFW, so it did not allow for the usually pre-landing procedures.

Yep, should have asked to get by instead of going for the 'opening'.

Deac - as you tell it, you were motivated by the "common good" - getting started with disembarking, to enable people to make connex, get home, etc.

If the other pax had been aware of/concerned with others, as you were, he would not have acted as he did.

You could have acted BETTER, but he did not do GOOD.