Those people can take the bus.
Some people are fools. If a person can’t control their swearing where appropriate to do so, they obviously have a mental problem.
It is of course possible that the OP’s friend dropped an f-bomb to no one in particular and was heaved by a flight attendant having an equally bad day. But, come on, what’s the *likelier *story here?
There is more than a slight chance that your friend was used as an example if it went down the way he described. Flight attendants can be assholes or completely overreact too. You don’t have to actually feel threatened to claim you feel threatened. There doesn’t need to be an actual threat. It’s very arbitrary.
I’m friends and acquaintances with more than a few flight attendants (both airline and private) and I get to hear a lot of stories. Unless the story makes the news and makes the airline look bad, they could care less and neither could the airline.
It’s the same with any other work with the public kind of job; some people are meant for it, some aren’t. The problem is that those that aren’t meant for it now have the power of the Patriot Act backing them. Anyone who would take pleasure in being a rude, hostile tyrant now has some very real power.
When I fly I want to get to my destination. I read my kindle. If for some reason a flight attendant approached me, called me a motherfucker, then spit in my face, I’d smile and go back to my kindle.
ETA: my system works. I’ve flown higher than a plane and I’ve reached my destination.
So, you happened to be on that flight? What are the odds?
There are some circumstances where compensation or recourse is possible. An airline ticket is a contract. You give them money, they take your ass to Cleveland. If you are delayed/misconnected, even on multiple flights, but get there on the same calendar day, even if you are not dropping fbombs, you’re not really entitled to any compensation per the contract of carriage.
If your flight is disrupted so that you cannot get to your destination that day, you are entitled to a refund, then you can do whatever you want with the money- such as rent a car to drive to the place, or fly on another airline. If you agree to stay overnight in an intermediary city, you usually can get a voucher for food/drink/hotel stays that are necessary and sometimes (less and less often these days) the carrier will give out vouchers ($50-$75 is common) for the inconvenience.
If you voluntarily give up a seat on an oversold flight, or take a flight the next day so that a family with a newborn can go home together, things like that, you might get some kind of voucher just for being a nice guy.
I also read this pretty good article where a frequent traveler practices being extra nice, and he’s so good at it that he claims he gets bumped to first class sometimes.
Airlines are just flying Greyhounds these days, and the flight personnel have to take a lot of grief, and it’s really just overall a crappy job. I could see someone just going “you know what? You’re out of here” to a passenger whose comments would normally just be ignored on a better day.
It reminds me of something a friend of ours said the other day- he’s an elementary school teacher. He said the kids’ actions aren’t always so bad, but the ones that get in trouble tend to have horrible timing.
I personally find it very interesting that they told him they had a “zero tolerance” for the “f word” when in fact their on-demand entertainment movie & tv listings contains many choices where the “f word” is used. Wolf of Wall Street, Dexter, True Detective, Goodfellas …
WARNING PDF FILE LINK
http://www.united.com/web/format/pdf/travel/inflight/entertainment/films/June-2014-On-demand-entertainment-movie-listing.pdf
If you wouldn’t drop the FBomb at a job interview, you have control over your word choices.
I’d wipe my face and pass on the refreshments when offered. 
Maybe, but I don’t see how flight attendants are the language police, and I don’t see how saying “fuck” is threatening. Crass, maybe, but threatening? Give me a break.
(And can I say how much I loathe the term “F-Bomb”? “Ooh, someone said fuck, its just like they dropped an actual *bomb *in here! Shrapnel all over the place, ripping through soft tissue! It’s *exactly *like that!” Pathetic.)
On the other hand, actually saying “F-bomb” might be worse than the other F-word on an airplane.
For all we know, the “zero tolerance” thing could be qualified – you can be profane, but when you use profanity at an airline employee, then you’re out. My personal rule in working with the public is that swearing is fine (“I’m really frustrated with all this fucking bullshit, I need help”), but if you swear AT me (e.g. “Fuck you and your company!”) then the conversation is over.
There’s also a pretty big world of difference between saying “I can’t believe this fucking airline had me on a 12 hour layover in Denver” at a low level to a traveling companion, versus “I can’t believe this fucking airline had me on a 12 hour layover in Denver!” screaming meltdown when the flight attendant asks you to pretty-please power down your Kindle during takeoff.
I’m very suspect at how little information we’ve been given. In customer service, it always seems to be “So-and-so hung up on me when I asked to return this!” gloss-over rather than “So-and-so hung up on me because I called her a stupid fucking whore when she explained the return policy didn’t apply!” reality of the situation. Why no specific quotes here? Surely it must be an encounter pretty fresh in the esortee’s mind. Given how vague the OP’s friend seems to be about what he actually said, I’m guessing it wasn’t “My god, these peanuts are fucking delicious!”
I’m changing some details but not the facts for anonymity. I have a newer smartphone for work than I do for personal use, mostly because my boss pays for the image upgrade. I was dealing with a municipal employee and had hit record 100% by accident (recording the inside of my tote bag) before entered the building, not even knowing there was going to be a problem. Thus I managed to get the full audio of what would have been a she said/he said situation, with my complaint going nowhere.
I had a customer service situation where I made an utterance. No profanity, not directed at the employee. This turned into the employee claiming I had sworn at them and used various profanities. This never happened. What actually happened was the employee did not do their job, screwed up royally, and I said something along the lines of “Oh God”.
If you’re getting agitated and swearing at the crew when they’ve barely cleared the gate, they have every reason to believe a couple of hours isn’t going to improve the situation and take steps to get your ass off the plane. You calm down, you get to take a later flight.
… and that magically posted before I was done.
Anyway, security got called and things turned to shit really fast. Nobody wanted to hear what I had to say.
I hadn’t been the least bit nasty. He screwed up, there was no going back, I had no time to waste rehashing events, I just wanted a supervisor to make it a priority and get it done and that was it. Instead, it turned into a complete fantasy on his part of what had gone down and how I behaved.
Once I realized I had the whole thing on tape, I got someones assistant to listen to a couple of lines and then I got a call back. Then I got a sit down with someone else and all the personal attention I could stand. His version of events would have stuck if I didn’t have the audio.
Why would he be cursing as the plane was backing away from the gate? Isn’t that a good thing, if you’re in a hurry to depart?
Play stupid games - win stupid prizes.
You, the passenger, do not get to make the call on passenger and crew safety. You can notify an attendant if you believe something is wrong, unusual, or abnormal. If someone is considered a threat, they can walk home, take a bus, or call a friend.
You can say fuck as often and as loud as you wish. AMTRAK needs passengers, too.
I agree that we all don’t know the whole story, but frustration and cursing should not be grounds for being ejected from a flight. Since 9/11, flight crews are starting to act like asshole cops with the feeling of superiority and authority and turning into Barney Fifes just because they can.
When you create your own airlines, you can make any rules that you wish. Until then, I suggest that you listen to what the flight crew and attendants say and follow their instructions, or be prepared to be escorted off the plane while the other passengers applaud.
I disagree. Passengers, on the whole, have become much more self-entitled and I think flight crews are increasingly often being expected to put up with way too much crap.
Just because someone can afford $250 to fly from Oklahoma City to Chicago doesn’t mean they are the Queen of Sheba. If someone wants to throw a childish tantrum, the airline is doing the adults on the plane a great service by kicking that person off.