The Case of the Cantankerous and Threatening UA Flight Attendant
Sep 18, 2016, 2:20 pm
#1
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The Case of the Cantankerous and Threatening UA Flight Attendant
The Case of the Cantankerous and Threatening UA Flight Attendant
On an overnight flight in business class on a UA 777 with 2-3-2 seating, I was threatened quite publically by an older flight attendant.
I was in row 4 and there is a bulkhead behind. The cabin crew did the safety video, had us put the seats up and headrests down. Please note that for many of us, with the headrest fully down, it is quite uncomfortable (so much for design competence). From what I could see in the 3 rows in front of me, 5 folks had re-raised their headrests. I did the same. An older flight attendant then singled me out threatening me with removal from the plane and said that he had already told the Captain that I refused to cooperate. I was quite taken aback by this. When he tried to make it clear that I was the only "non cooperative passenger" I politely pointed out the person in the row in front of me, that the FA"missed". He then went and pushed that passengers headrest down, but did not do so for the other 4 passengers. Nor did he chew out nor threaten the other passengers in any way. The folks next to me also thought this FA behavior was quite bizarre and not appropriate.
If I am at fault, so be it. But so were a third of the passengers in front of me. There are far better ways to deal with things. It was not appropriate to single out any passenger over this - even less so when issues of racial profiling, etc. are commonplace in the news - and in the Courts. If the violation was serious, why were the bulk of the "offending" passengers not even corrected?
Interestingly, one of "un corrected" passengers flipped the headrest up as did his seatmate during landing, and even put his seat into full recline towards the end of the actual landing process near touchdown. No FA threatened him......And so it goes
On an overnight flight in business class on a UA 777 with 2-3-2 seating, I was threatened quite publically by an older flight attendant.
I was in row 4 and there is a bulkhead behind. The cabin crew did the safety video, had us put the seats up and headrests down. Please note that for many of us, with the headrest fully down, it is quite uncomfortable (so much for design competence). From what I could see in the 3 rows in front of me, 5 folks had re-raised their headrests. I did the same. An older flight attendant then singled me out threatening me with removal from the plane and said that he had already told the Captain that I refused to cooperate. I was quite taken aback by this. When he tried to make it clear that I was the only "non cooperative passenger" I politely pointed out the person in the row in front of me, that the FA"missed". He then went and pushed that passengers headrest down, but did not do so for the other 4 passengers. Nor did he chew out nor threaten the other passengers in any way. The folks next to me also thought this FA behavior was quite bizarre and not appropriate.
If I am at fault, so be it. But so were a third of the passengers in front of me. There are far better ways to deal with things. It was not appropriate to single out any passenger over this - even less so when issues of racial profiling, etc. are commonplace in the news - and in the Courts. If the violation was serious, why were the bulk of the "offending" passengers not even corrected?
Interestingly, one of "un corrected" passengers flipped the headrest up as did his seatmate during landing, and even put his seat into full recline towards the end of the actual landing process near touchdown. No FA threatened him......And so it goes
Sep 18, 2016, 2:48 pm
#2
Join Date: Jul 2005
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He sounds like he took your action as a personal affront against him. Wildly inappropriate.
I'm glad you took responsibility for putting up the headrest in the first place, though. Many times I find these type of complaint threads as entirely tone deaf about their own actions, seemingly unable to see if they did anything wrong.
I'm glad you took responsibility for putting up the headrest in the first place, though. Many times I find these type of complaint threads as entirely tone deaf about their own actions, seemingly unable to see if they did anything wrong.
Sep 18, 2016, 3:30 pm
#3
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If I am at fault, so be it. But so were a third of the passengers in front of me. There are far better ways to deal with things. It was not appropriate to single out any passenger over this - even less so when issues of racial profiling, etc. are commonplace in the news - and in the Courts. If the violation was serious, why were the bulk of the "offending" passengers not even corrected?
I recommend that the next time you fly, you obey the FA's instructions, and not worry so much about whether you perceive that other passengers are doing so.
Sep 18, 2016, 3:31 pm
#4
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The Case of the Cantankerous and Threatening UA Flight Attendant
On an overnight flight in business class on a UA 777 with 2-3-2 seating, I was threatened quite publically by an older flight attendant.
I was in row 4 and there is a bulkhead behind. The cabin crew did the safety video, had us put the seats up and headrests down. Please note that for many of us, with the headrest fully down, it is quite uncomfortable (so much for design competence). From what I could see in the 3 rows in front of me, 5 folks had re-raised their headrests. I did the same. An older flight attendant then singled me out threatening me with removal from the plane and said that he had already told the Captain that I refused to cooperate. I was quite taken aback by this. When he tried to make it clear that I was the only "non cooperative passenger" I politely pointed out the person in the row in front of me, that the FA"missed". He then went and pushed that passengers headrest down, but did not do so for the other 4 passengers. Nor did he chew out nor threaten the other passengers in any way. The folks next to me also thought this FA behavior was quite bizarre and not appropriate.
If I am at fault, so be it. But so were a third of the passengers in front of me. There are far better ways to deal with things. It was not appropriate to single out any passenger over this - even less so when issues of racial profiling, etc. are commonplace in the news - and in the Courts. If the violation was serious, why were the bulk of the "offending" passengers not even corrected?
Interestingly, one of "un corrected" passengers flipped the headrest up as did his seatmate during landing, and even put his seat into full recline towards the end of the actual landing process near touchdown. No FA threatened him......And so it goes
On an overnight flight in business class on a UA 777 with 2-3-2 seating, I was threatened quite publically by an older flight attendant.
I was in row 4 and there is a bulkhead behind. The cabin crew did the safety video, had us put the seats up and headrests down. Please note that for many of us, with the headrest fully down, it is quite uncomfortable (so much for design competence). From what I could see in the 3 rows in front of me, 5 folks had re-raised their headrests. I did the same. An older flight attendant then singled me out threatening me with removal from the plane and said that he had already told the Captain that I refused to cooperate. I was quite taken aback by this. When he tried to make it clear that I was the only "non cooperative passenger" I politely pointed out the person in the row in front of me, that the FA"missed". He then went and pushed that passengers headrest down, but did not do so for the other 4 passengers. Nor did he chew out nor threaten the other passengers in any way. The folks next to me also thought this FA behavior was quite bizarre and not appropriate.
If I am at fault, so be it. But so were a third of the passengers in front of me. There are far better ways to deal with things. It was not appropriate to single out any passenger over this - even less so when issues of racial profiling, etc. are commonplace in the news - and in the Courts. If the violation was serious, why were the bulk of the "offending" passengers not even corrected?
Interestingly, one of "un corrected" passengers flipped the headrest up as did his seatmate during landing, and even put his seat into full recline towards the end of the actual landing process near touchdown. No FA threatened him......And so it goes
I've been told various bizarre things by United flight attendants over the years, but learned that there is no way to win by pointing out their deficiency in these circumstances. But talking about it on FT can certainly be therapeutic. Hope that helped exorcise the annoyance.
Sep 18, 2016, 3:40 pm
#5
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The Case of the Cantankerous and Threatening UA Flight Attendant
On an overnight flight in business class on a UA 777 with 2-3-2 seating, I was threatened quite publically by an older flight attendant.
I was in row 4 and there is a bulkhead behind. The cabin crew did the safety video, had us put the seats up and headrests down. Please note that for many of us, with the headrest fully down, it is quite uncomfortable (so much for design competence). From what I could see in the 3 rows in front of me, 5 folks had re-raised their headrests. I did the same. An older flight attendant then singled me out threatening me with removal from the plane and said that he had already told the Captain that I refused to cooperate. I was quite taken aback by this. When he tried to make it clear that I was the only "non cooperative passenger" I politely pointed out the person in the row in front of me, that the FA"missed". He then went and pushed that passengers headrest down, but did not do so for the other 4 passengers. Nor did he chew out nor threaten the other passengers in any way. The folks next to me also thought this FA behavior was quite bizarre and not appropriate.
If I am at fault, so be it. But so were a third of the passengers in front of me. There are far better ways to deal with things. It was not appropriate to single out any passenger over this - even less so when issues of racial profiling, etc. are commonplace in the news - and in the Courts. If the violation was serious, why were the bulk of the "offending" passengers not even corrected?
Interestingly, one of "un corrected" passengers flipped the headrest up as did his seatmate during landing, and even put his seat into full recline towards the end of the actual landing process near touchdown. No FA threatened him......And so it goes
On an overnight flight in business class on a UA 777 with 2-3-2 seating, I was threatened quite publically by an older flight attendant.
I was in row 4 and there is a bulkhead behind. The cabin crew did the safety video, had us put the seats up and headrests down. Please note that for many of us, with the headrest fully down, it is quite uncomfortable (so much for design competence). From what I could see in the 3 rows in front of me, 5 folks had re-raised their headrests. I did the same. An older flight attendant then singled me out threatening me with removal from the plane and said that he had already told the Captain that I refused to cooperate. I was quite taken aback by this. When he tried to make it clear that I was the only "non cooperative passenger" I politely pointed out the person in the row in front of me, that the FA"missed". He then went and pushed that passengers headrest down, but did not do so for the other 4 passengers. Nor did he chew out nor threaten the other passengers in any way. The folks next to me also thought this FA behavior was quite bizarre and not appropriate.
If I am at fault, so be it. But so were a third of the passengers in front of me. There are far better ways to deal with things. It was not appropriate to single out any passenger over this - even less so when issues of racial profiling, etc. are commonplace in the news - and in the Courts. If the violation was serious, why were the bulk of the "offending" passengers not even corrected?
Interestingly, one of "un corrected" passengers flipped the headrest up as did his seatmate during landing, and even put his seat into full recline towards the end of the actual landing process near touchdown. No FA threatened him......And so it goes
1) Safety video informs passengers to put headrests down
2) OP notices that others have their headrests up, so he puts his up (after the video)
3) FA scolds OP
Here's where I am confused ... What is the time lapse between OP putting up headrest and FA scolding him?
It sounds in the post like it was one after the other. But the OP states that the FA had already informed the captain that he refused to cooperate. Did anything else happen?
Sep 18, 2016, 3:41 pm
#6
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Welcome to FT, Sir Travels A Lot!
While the FA's behaviour was inappropriate, I believe that saying "everyone else is doing it" was equally inappropriate.
While the FA's behaviour was inappropriate, I believe that saying "everyone else is doing it" was equally inappropriate.
Sep 18, 2016, 4:26 pm
#8
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Although the OP may have been in error and used poor judgement, why are we defending FAs who would behave like this towards a customer?
And OP, what else did you do that set this FA off to single you out? ("he had already told the Captain that I refused to cooperate")
And OP, what else did you do that set this FA off to single you out? ("he had already told the Captain that I refused to cooperate")
Sep 18, 2016, 5:09 pm
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Sep 18, 2016, 5:19 pm
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This is a pretty stupid rule. There's an entire thread on it here and the best rationale that anyone can point to is that they have only tested/certified takeoffs/landings with the headrest in the down position. However, part of the social contract we make in a civilized society involves following rules even when we think they're stupid (Socrates/Crito).
Nevertheless, the FA is totally unjustified in going nuts over it. If he made a second and maybe a third request, yes. But otherwise, it's an absurd reaction.
Now if he ignored other violators and singled you out as a person of a minority race/ethnic group, that's a really big problem, which I think should be reported.
Nevertheless, the FA is totally unjustified in going nuts over it. If he made a second and maybe a third request, yes. But otherwise, it's an absurd reaction.
Now if he ignored other violators and singled you out as a person of a minority race/ethnic group, that's a really big problem, which I think should be reported.
Sep 18, 2016, 5:30 pm
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This is a pretty stupid rule. There's an entire thread on it here and the best rationale that anyone can point to is that they have only tested/certified takeoffs/landings with the headrest in the down position. However, part of the social contract we make in a civilized society involves following rules even when we think they're stupid (Socrates/Crito).
Nevertheless, the FA is totally unjustified in going nuts over it. If he made a second and maybe a third request, yes. But otherwise, it's an absurd reaction.
Now if he ignored other violators and singled you out as a person of a minority race/ethnic group, that's a really big problem, which I think should be reported.
Nevertheless, the FA is totally unjustified in going nuts over it. If he made a second and maybe a third request, yes. But otherwise, it's an absurd reaction.
Now if he ignored other violators and singled you out as a person of a minority race/ethnic group, that's a really big problem, which I think should be reported.
Sep 18, 2016, 5:50 pm
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Just because other people are breaking the rules, does not mean that is okay for you to break the rules. You broke the rules, and that is not okay. The FA had every right to single you out. And using race as an excuse for your behavior is...pathetic.
Next time, pay attention the safety video, listen to FA instructions, obey the rules and law, and you won't have such a situation. 'Nuff said.
Next time, pay attention the safety video, listen to FA instructions, obey the rules and law, and you won't have such a situation. 'Nuff said.
Sep 18, 2016, 6:41 pm
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Sep 18, 2016, 6:45 pm
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First off, I don't understand the OP's comment on racial profiling. While I fully understand the comments about the backrests being uncomfortable when down; as passengers we're obligated to follow the rules. The other thing I don't get it the comment on having already spoken to the Captain; sounds like we're only getting part of the story as involving the Captain prior to departure would only happen if the event was protracted. There's an escalation process that the FA's use the involves the Purser and then the flight crew. The whole thing doesn't sound right. We've all suffered through grumpy FA's at some point, but it usually momentary and on balance the crews are doing the best they can. Being an FA is hard work.