A&E's Airline

Cafe Society
1

Well, I’m sitting here at home due to the Creeping CrudTM. So, what to do when lying about with a fogged-out brain? Turn on the TV! (With our satellite dish something worth watching has to be on, right? Right?)

Tuned into A&E’s Airline. OK, this might be good… has airplanes, right?

All I can say is that there is a LOT of really dumb, ignorant people out there. OK, happy passengers blissfully traveling through varous airports without a hitch don’t make for much drama, but the sheer number of drunks featured is amazing.

Now, foreigners who walk off planes not knowing English are going to have problems in the US, yes. I thought the one or two of those I saw (there were multiple episodes of Airline this morning) were interesting, what with people trying to figure out what language is being spoken and trying to find someone who can translate it.

And there are the folks who are terrified of flying, and how the airline employees have to handle that.

But the drunks - c’mon, going flying is an excuse to get falling-down drunk? Sure, some of these folks probably are raging alcholics, but it’s just mind boggling. Yeah, I’ve flown a bit myself - I amused myself by trying to identify airport terminals before they stated which one it was - but I don’t remember seeing this many plastered idiots. I dunno, maybe the airport personnel shuffle them off quickly enough the rest of us sober types don’t notice.

THEN there are the belligerant, threat-spoutting jerks - with or without alcohol. Is there anyone over the age of 12 in this post-9/11 world who seriously doesn’t understand why threats are a Bad Idea at the airport?

You know, if I was sitting on an airplane I’d be GLAD they weren’t letting some of these folks board the plane.

And we had the family trying to board in Baltimore with enough liquor to supply a small conveninence store. In flimsy, battered cardboard boxes barely held together with peeling tape. OK… I can see what’s wrong with this… But they have to board their airplane and they have to take all this booze with them – :rolleyes: If hard-sided suitcases can get mangled in transit can we really trust alcholic beverages in glass to survive? Ooo… that would be a mess!

Anyone else watch this show?

2

It’s a guilty pleasure of mine. I can sit here castigating myself because my idiot brain can’t wrap itself around economics, but then I think that there are people who can’t grasp basic rules of functioning in society.

And then I feel much better.

3

No kidding. I stop on it when I zip past it, and it is pretty entertaining. Yes, the number of drunks is amazing. I just can’t fathom how many people are yanked off planes for being wasted. What I like is when they re-book them on a later flight, give them a meal voucher (in hopes that they’ll sober up), and then the camera catches them sitting in the bar, tossing back more booze.
:smack:

I saw the one with the family and their taped-together boxes of liquor a few weeks ago. They were going to a funeral, right? They were flying out of Baltimore (where I live), and was thinking, “What, they can’t buy the liquor where they’re going?” They were so insistent on taking it with them - what kind of funeral were they going to that they needed that much booze?

4

I find it both fascinating and frustrating, too. I think the producers were wise to choose Southwest, a discount airline, as the focus. Not that drunks never try to get on United flights, but something about cheap fares seems to bring out all the nuts, cranks and sots.

5

I love this show too. I started watching it because I was a regular on Southwest. In all my flights I’m glad I’ve never had any of these wackos on the same plane.

The only people I feel bad for are the overbookings. They’re rightfully upset. One show they showed a flight overbooked by 53 people or so. All bad.

6

If it seems like they’re showing more drunk passengers than you’ve seen in your life, remember that this is something of a highlight reel, so that we’re not seeing the boring majority of the passengers who don’t have any problems.

A couple of times they show the gate agent talking to someone to judge the level of intoxication. It seems like a judgement call, and I know that I wouldn’t be very good at it. Perhaps it would be fairer to ask the passenger to take a breathalyzer test.

I’m amazed at the patience shown by the Southwest employees, since the passengers shown can be so obnoxious. And the employees can show great sensitivity, like when the gentleman in the wheelchair with Alzheimer’s had soiled himself and the Southwest employee went to the bathroom with the passenger and the passenger’s wife to clean him up.

7

The situations that occur on this series remind me so much of my experiences working at a hotel chain. It seems all customer service positions have similar obstacles.

I must disagree with the poster who suggested the abundance of seamingly off-kilter passengers is related to the discount status of the airline. I was employed by a luxury hotel and met plenty of characters. Money, or lack thereof, is not a good indicator of behavior.

Before I started watching this, however, it would never have occured to me that they would refuse boarding to someone who had been drinking but was behaving themselves. The obnoxious or unable to function drunks are one thing, but I find their decision to refuse boarding to some people rather arbitrary. I know it is their right to do so, but I feel it is not always necessary.

Just my two cents!

8

The programme originated in Britain, where it also followed a discount airline, Easyjet. I suspect these companies are more amenable to the “all publicity is good publicity” attitude, and also realise that it humanises the line of faces we encounter behind lines of desks. After all, every obnoxious on-screen earbashing of an employee who can’t do any different makes it a little less likely that we’ll behave like that when our flight is cancelled.

9

The reason they might wish to prevent a well-behaving drunk from boarding is because they might not continue to behave, or they might pass out which would probably require the flight to divert to get them to medical attention.

Increased altitude intensifies the effects of alcohol. Granted, the airlines are pressurized, but not to sea level. At 35,000 feet your cabin pressure is that of 8,000 feet - in other words, more than a mile above sea level, higher than Denver. Not a problem for the healthy and sober, but the airlines transport the drunk and ill as well.

I also suspect that part of the “get them a meal and book them on a later flight” is to observe them. If the person stays away from the bar and behaves themselves for 2-3 hours, not only will they be more sober but they’ll probably behave for the flight, too. If they can’t stay out of trouble for 2-3 hours, or can’t stop drinking, no, you probably don’t want them on board.

Had the inevitable people ranting about not flying in bad weather. Loved that customer service rep: “I’m sorry sir, but we don’t fly in unsafe conditions.” You got people so afraid to fly they almost pass out at the thought, and on the same flight people who are so fearless they insist on flying even when it’s not safe.

I’m watching this thinking - man, I am so glad I don’t have that job.

Part of the problems arise from ignorance - I mean, folks who don’t fly much, or who aren’t used to the US system, don’t know the rules and regs. Maybe where that Baltimore family came from transporting alcohol in that manner is routine. Or maybe they’re raging alcoholics. You had that one lady arrive from middle east to visit a relative standing in a corner without knowing a word of English, probably frightened, who wanted to take the stairs because she wasn’t comfortable with escalators. Remarkable as it seems to middle America, there ARE people in the world who have never used an escalator before in their life. I know from my traveling days that both O’Hare and Midway have international travelers who have difficulty with operating the toilets - presumably other airports do, too. I mean, folks who live in villages where latrines are still the norm do have reason to travel on airplanes just like anyone else. (Nothing quite like seeing some poor little old lady with no English rocket out of bathroom stall because the darn thing just flushed itself - it just might reduce Grandma to tears if she’s never seen or heard of such a thing before. Heck, scared ME the first time I had a toilet do that, and I already knew about those gizmos!)

But, really - I half expected some folks to show up with chickens in cages or something.

And then you have the folks who are pretty decent - there was one girl claiming to have had $200 in underwear stolen out of her suitcase. (Lest that seem like a fantastic amount - I generally spend $25-30 per bra, and don’t buy the fancy ones. $200 could be two bras and half dozen silk underpants) The suitcase was torn up, like the customer service rep said, clearly whatever was in that compartment was gone, and it was reasonable to assume something had been packed in there. Of course, the airline wasn’t going to give her $200 for underwear without proof of the value, but they did give her some money to purchase some underwear until she got back home. And while the gal was upset, she seemed pretty resonable and understanding about why she wasn’t being compensated immediately in full for her loss.

I was shocked at the number of times gate reps where punched or smacked by irate would-be passengers. Also surprised at the fact these same bullies were shocked to be denied boarding. Uh, folks - slapping people is not acceptable behavior. Doing that to a member of a flight crew is a felony. What lunatics.

10

I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to be ‘intoxicated’ on an aircraft in the UK (the same goes for trains, too) - and with good reason: if you are in a window seat, and your plane ditches, do you want to have a passed-out alcoholic to climb over as part of your escape?

At Heathrow, there’s signs instruction people who are unfamiliar with escalators to use the stairs. (Of course, the signs are only in English, and probably just an anticipation of possible legal battles.)

11

And it’s not even a single airport being spotlit – they hop between a handful of different locations.

“Airline” has given me one very special gift, namely the felicituous phrase “a Customer of Size”, as the PC term for “good golly that’s one fat dude”.

12

Well, no, I wouldn’t want to wind up using a drunken seatmate as a “floatation device” or whatever… and on the show they do play the “safety” argument as well, along the lines of “Ma’am - you have to be able to walk unassisted. In the event of an emergency we need you capable of following instructions”

But beyond that - if they serve alcohol on board I’m not sure they can use the “intoxicated” argument in the US. If you drink alcohol of course you’re under the influence - the question being how much under the influence. Here in the States “public drunkenness” laws usually come down to “drunk enough to be a nuisance”, which is by any reading a subjective opinion. Yes, there’s some judgement calls here - but then reality does occassionally call for judgements to be made. You don’t want to lose customers by barring well-behaved folks who have had a few drinks but are still operational, nor do you want to bar people who’s antics come more from fear of flying than alcohol (though you still might not want a passenger so hysterical from fear they can’t behave). On the other hand, you don’t want to endanger anyone else on the flight, either.

13

I’ve watched it off and on, along with the British version. There’s another show, “Airport” I think, on one of the Discovery channels. This one takes place in Heathrow and concentrates on what would be considered the behind the scenes aspect.

14

Or, because letting the drunk board violates the FARs:

Note that similar text also appears in Secs. 135.121(c) and 91.17(b) – air carriers, on-demand operators, and general aviation all have “no drunks” rules.

15

There was one obnoxious twit I couldn’t figure out; some nasal-voiced white guy with glasses who, upon being told of weather delays, angrily and rhethorically asked “Do you see a storm?! Do you see a storm?!” Apparently the concept that other cities might have different weather was lost on him.

16

We love Airline. I cannot believe how rude some people are; basically I watch to make fun of them. We watched an episode tonight where a guy was denied boarding because he got really loud and abusive because someone got in line in front of him. He could not seem to get the concept that the louder and madder he got, the less likely he was to get on the plane. :smack:

17

MrValley watches this show. I cruise in and out while he watches, because I can only take so much before getting really depressed about humanity.

I flew SWA home from Baltimore in April with the supercute 2 month old ValleyGirl, but we didn’t get on the show. In case you’re wondering about permission for the filming, check out this picture we took of the poster at the check-in counter which warns you about it.

Yes, that’s Mike Carr. I really like him. I also like Yolanda Martin.

18

Is there a list of where they filmed this? Somehow I have the idea stuck in my head that one of the places was ABQ.

19

An Irish one?

Damn, I gotta start watching this show. I did see a preview for one where a woman was pissed because her wedding dress was completely ruined in baggage, or something like that.

20

Ah, yes, there’s that, too - but the FARs contain no definition of intoxicated, at least not for passengers (there is a stated blood alcohol limit for pilots). So what’s intoxicated? One drink? Several drinks? Falling over? Which is why the “safety” issue is the ultimate fallback here - do you pose a potential danger to yourself or others?

There are actually quite a few flight crew and pilots who’d like to ban ALL alcohol on flights. For reasons this show and others make obvious.