I've dealt with power tripping FAs before, and I'm a white guy. So I will assume, given OP's belief, that this was in no way racially motivated.

I have heard and seem some crazy FAs but I can't imagine why they would ever insist the "1 bag in the Overhead" bin rule applies to bulkhead passengers. It most clearly does not. And in any event it is not a rule so much as a courtesy policy to make more room for other's bags. And it most certainly has nothing to do with "security."

The problem with the power tripping FAs is that they can raise "security" concerns at the drop of the hat to win any argument -- and the passenger is completely stuck and has to give in 100%. Some FAs are incredibly dumb and misunderstand the rules, others just might be having a bad day and looking for a fight. But they have pretty much absolute power to make your trip interrupted, or otherwise delayed, with no recourse. And in the right situation, they will absolutely abuse this power to win any stupid argument.

And this problem is not unique to US, for sure. It is a by-product of FAA regulations that pretty much give the Captain the power to do whatever he or she wants on a plane, and the Captain will always support the FA, as a fellow employee, etc.

Don't forget: U S Air BEGINS WITH U

Bad behavior is never acceptable! I am assuming this was either on an express flight or west side because:
(1) The only flights we have pursers are our transatlantic flights, all others are just called flight attendants.
(2) None of the main line airplanes on the east side have seat 1B, it's only
1A and 1C.
And as Boeing Boy said earlier, we VERY rarely take our problems to the flight deck unless we fear physical harm.

Unfortunately, when you are an airline passenger, you essentially forfeit all of your rights the minute you step onto the aircraft. If you are lucky, you will get a great flight crew. If not.......just keep (silently) repeating to yourself over and over again that a well-written complaint letter after-the-fact will ensure that any power-tripping FA will be........re-trained. ;)

I once had an FA tell me that I could not keep my under-the-seat bag stowed under 21D (I was sitting on 22D on a 321), because 22D was an exit row seat, and it was a Federal Regulation. My bag was fully stowed, by the way. After dozens of times sitting in that very seat, I knew that she was wrong (or if she was correct, US and other airlines never enforce the regulation)........but I silently complied. The only reason why I did not report her after-the-fact is that at some point during the middle of the flight I went to the rear galley and we started chatting, and she was actually very nice. She got off easy that day! :D

[QUOTE=GalleyWench;13512009]Bad behavior is never acceptable! I am assuming this was either on an express flight or west side because:

(2) None of the main line airplanes on the east side have seat 1B, it's only
1A and 1C.


And I thought I was the only one who picked up on that 'fact' in this complaint.

There's no "B" seat on the West side either.

What was the route?
CLT-based F/As tend to be older and crankier than PHX-based ones.

Phlyer,

Thanks for the story -- glad it worked out for your. Life is a journey and some interesting things will indeed happen if you travel enough.

In this instance, I agree with others who suggest that you follow this thing up & report this incident in detail to US, but not so much to "teach this FA a lesson" as it is to correct an employee who sounds more like a hazzard to pax and the airline. It is never a good thing when any individual fabricates facts and you end up with an angry captain ready to boot you off the plane. In my book this is serious stuff and I would treat it so, if not for your sake, but for the sake of other pax who might run into this clearly troubled individual.

Perhaps she is a good person having an extremely bad day. Could be the captain's GF or mistress :o ( just thinkiing out loud to fathom how she escalates things ). It's not about how she deliberately stalked you -- that is indeed amusing. Her blatant lie & accusation is over the line under every circumstance and you're sort of obligated to call her out on that one. She either gets with the program or hits the road.

Also good advice from Clue about procedural matters if you had been unlucky enough to get booted.

Barry

I've sent a complaint in and shall circle back with their response.


You are correct, there was no B seat at all on this aircraft. I was actually seated in C. Additionally, I was on a mainline 737-400 traveling from DFW to CLT.

I do think she was having a bad day because I really had done nothing other than to say hello to her upon boarding, put my stuff away and take a seat.

Do let us know what US Airways replies. The FA you had is the type that should be fired immediately. I hope that US Airways checks her history.

Just because the OP thinks it might not have been racist doesn't mean it wasn't. I am not saying it was. It shows the OP does not throw around charges of racism lightly. What's strange is why would some one would appreciate hearing that it wasn't racist :confused.
If someone though it was racist, would it upset you?

I'm starting to believe that the only way this sort of behavior will go away is actually publishing the names of the people who do this sort of stuff.

Basically anytime now you can be targeted by ANY flight attendant in a bad mood, who thinks he or she can get away with it just by pulling the "security" excuse.

I'm curious if I'll get that by asking for orange juice on my flight to HNL, as the AA trademark.

no name tags
 

Thanks to the flight attenant union, they do NOT have to wear name nags during the flight. That makes reporting bad behavior more difficult. Try asking for their full name...most will refuse.

You don't need a name. All you need is the date, flight number and which jumpseat the f/a was assigned. We do have our first names on our aprons.

As if most of the traveling public knows (or has any way of knowing) the jumpseat assignments. Sorry, tahitigirl, I'm raising the B.S. flag on this. If you can have your name on your apron, you should have your name on a name tag (be it only the first name).

It's pretty easy ie, the f/a who was sitting at the front door on the right side of the a/c or the f/a who was sitting at the door in front of row 23. The company can figure out exactly which f/a is working which position. I will not give out my name due to the fact that I've had a strange man track me down once before. I've only had one pax ever ask me for my name and told him I would not give him my name but I did write down my employee number for him.