rickg523

Yeah, the point is UA didn't treat their passenger like one. It was the epitome of UA considering passengers self loading cargo.

emcampbe

I don't get that impression. The statement listed about being told she couldn't use the lav until the seat belt sign was turned off "after landing" gives me the impression that they were still in the air, likely in decent. Though without clarification, the broader take would have to be somewhere from the decent to stopped short of the gate waiting for ground crew to finish pulling them in.

This. I hear this on every flight, too.

I'll rephrase to what seems to be happening - anything bad about United is bad news. Though other carriers are seeing it too now - Spirit at FLL, DL with the baby in a different kids seat, DL with the bathroom, AA with the stroller, etc....in fact an accusation of AA being racist is on the front of FT now.

Especially if they were in final descent, pax can not willy nilly ignore safety regs. Doesn't matter the carrier. While media uses this to pile on UA, it is not justified, IME. Seems to be a pax wanting to disregard not just any rule or policy, but a ˆsafety rule. Now let's say for fun, hypothetically they are in decent and pax goes to the bathroom anyway. On the way out, hits her head on the wall and gets a concussion. Sues UA, even though she was told she couldn't get up.

Airlines are in a lose-lose scenario.

rickg523

How'd that happen? Wasn't always that way.
Why are the airlines this year's Comcast? Because they've treated they're customers with same arrogance and bad faith while hiding extremely one-sided contractual obligations from their customers.
Same short-sighted profit grab, same result.

JBord

Really? I don't recall ever seeing a United FA shame someone for a health issue. Certainly there are some mean or grumpy FA's but based on my personal experience I find it hard to believe they "shamed" her.

That said, hard to comment on this without a lot of facts. Likely a combination of the passenger not planning appropriately for her condition and a surly FA.

TravelingNomads

Soon they'll have to start handing out adult diapers with boarding passes!

Seriously though, I can't imagine her peeing in a cup in front of everyone without it truly being an emergency. To fill up 2 cups though seems a bit much for someone with a bladder issue.

fly18725

No, if the aircraft is somewhere were passengers aren't allowed to be up, like under 10,000 feet or on an active taxiway, I would acknowledge that the FA is following the law by keeping the passenger seated.

findark

Hard to say much when the story is short on details..

I was once in a similar situation. Thought I could wait until we arrived, and then our gate was occupied. After sitting parked on a taxiway (maybe the ramp I don't remember) for 15 minutes, I slid out of my seat and quickly used the lav. I didn't get any sort of reaction from the crew and didn't think much of it.

Grog

It's okay to be insensitive, but not okay to insinuate that anyone who might suddenly and expectantly need to relief themselves is not an adult.

MSPeconomist

How does a woman even do this without removing the seatbelt and (with or without seatbelt) without getting urine on the seat/floor and her clothing? Did the FA provide both cups (disposable and unbreakable I hope) just for this purpose?

Explorer789

There's no winning here. The pax offered to pee in a cup, FA agreed that was probably the safest option for everyone in the cabin. As far as I can tell with the sparse details, both the pax and FA dealt with the situation in a reasonable manner.

TravelingNomads

I feel like the other passengers who had to watch that should be entitled to at least some free miles.

spin88

Perhaps tickets to Urine Town?

Explorer789

Then don't look? Is urinating such a obscene and unnatural act that it deserves compensation?

Austin787

Sounds like the flight was in final descent, or already landed and taxiing to the gate. Either way the fasten seat belt sign is on and passengers need to be seated. Though I have seen passengers get up to use the bathroom in those flight phases and the crew said nothing.

Those who said she should have planned ahead, overactive bladder symptoms can come suddenly with no warning. Maybe she used the restroom earlier and had to go again. That woman had 3 options:
1) Use the bathroom after the FA told her to be seated, with the risks of doing so already discussed (ie injury, arrest, etc)
2) Pee in her pants
3) Pee in a cup
None are ideal, but option 3 is the least bad of those.

gardener

She did not pee in a cup, she peed into a cup. Unless it was a mighty big cup, big enough to hold an adult.