dml105

THIS.

The passenger set up the dangerous situation for his iPad, and the natural consequence of that situation is that it would fall. As in, it would not matter if it was the F/A touching his shoulder, moving his leg, saying "hey you," or if it were another passenger. The common denominator is the precarious positioning of the iPad.

So, it's really hard for me sympathize with the OP (or at least share his target of blame). If it would have dropped that easily, it most likely also would have fallen when the plane moved.

Sorry to say it, but I think the OP is looking for someone other than himself to blame.

tommyleo

Wrong.

Imagine if you saw someone standing on a ledge, peering over a 20-foot drop. Did that person set up a dangerous situation? Yes. Would the "natural consequence" be that he would fall. No. He very well might not fall at all.

What if you touched that person and the person was startled and fell over the ledge? Who's fault would that be?

If the iPad was in such a precarious position, the FA should have secured the iPad before attempting to alert the passenger. Simple solution.

dml105

Is he asleep? That really is a key factor.

I would say it would be his, because let's be honest, even if I had touched him in any way deemed proper by the folks on this thread (or just said "hey! back away!"), it could have still startled him, and the natural result of leaning over a ledge could have happened.

Another way to see this is to consider what advice would you give to someone before they leaned over the ledge. Would you advise them to do it, or would you advise them not to? If not, wouldn't you do so because it is dangerous to lean over ledges? And isn't it dangerous because you can foresee getting hurt?

It's all about the foreseeability. It is absolutely foreseeable that if you fall asleep with delicate electronics on your lap that they will be damaged when they fall.
I really don't think that's the FA's job. Who knows if she even saw an iPad there.

dcpatti

Isn't that the plot of like every Bruce Willis movie? It's never Bruce's fault when the guy falls off the ledge. Shouldn't have been on the ledge in the first place.

That said, I've yet to form an opinion on this whole iPad/leg-moving thing because I am having a hard time getting my head around why an FA (or anyone) would choose to do the harder thing to get the task accomplished (moving the pax's legs) instead of the easier thing (shake his shoulder to wake him and ask him to move his own legs), because people in general look for the easiest way to get their tasks done. Maybe the FA tried waking the pax up in other manners first, maybe not... not even sure if that matters... it is just keeping me from having an opinion. But I do know that, in general, the person who puts the potentially dangerous situation into play bears some of the responsibility for the outcome. Too many other factors to say how much of the responsibility falls on the pax but if the iPad had been tucked away, we wouldn't be having this conversation, even if the FA tried to make the sleeping pax's legs do the can-can.

irishguy28

Touching someone's leg, let alone lifting/moving someone's leg, is completely inappropriate behaviour. (The former I would only tolerate from a significant other - the latter is never acceptable, regardless of who does it). Ascribing such an aggressive/invasive action to "friendliness" or a desire not to wake the person is ridiculous - US FAs don't show much consideration in facilitating sleep on overnight TATLs when most pax would be expected to want to sleep. And does anyone here really think that having your legs shoved out of the way would not wake you?