I know with whom on this thread I wish to fly, go to a nice restaurant, the theater, or stand around in security lines.
My husband, who for much of his life has looked a bit like Dan Haggerty (now with shorter grayer hair and beard, Sean Connery) got quite a bit of attention shortly after 9/11 on an Alaska flight. We were boarding in Seattle. He knows all the bad words and also knows when NOT to use them. There was a sniffer dog, and he was wearing a Filson wool vest that he had worn shooting trap. (He also had a Guns and Ammo magazine folded in his carryon). 6’4 250 lb man, nice and polite, surrounded by uniforms wearing body armor…perhaps because he was very very polite, and because there was nothing objectionable in luggage or carryon, and he was with wife and two charming daughters, it didn’t last long. The vest was definitely the problem, per the dog. To the dry cleaner it went! Security and police were also very polite. We don’t fly much any more, and sadly, when we do, get a different sort of special attention due to needing extra assistance. I’ve watched what the TSA folk have to do, and do not envy them at all; hence extra good manners do no harm, at all.
I am in the military, probably one of the most obscenity-laden work forces ever. It’s nothing for someone to drop a f*** or whatever in the middle of an OGroup (think executive meeting) and everyone I work with can control their language to when and where it’s appropriate. Trust me, I swear a lot at work, and no one casts a single stink eye. Totally normal.
It’s one of my biggest pet peeves that people seem to no longer be able to conduct themselves in public. It may be fine to swear like a soldier/sailor/whatever among your friends, but it doesn’t take a genius to know it’s not fine everywhere and it will offend some people.
If you can’t control the words that come our of your mouth, you need to learn it. Sorry for the hijack.
Great post, LSLGuy. It’s a shame your post (suitably edited) couldn’t be reading material in the terminal. I’d be interested to read the thoughts of the pilots and flight staff whilst waiting to embark. This bit -
… I thought was pretty ‘cool’, but I’m very comfortable flying (was in the Air Cadets) so I understand it’s just humour.
I’ve been flying, as a passenger, since I was a kid in the early 80s and I’ve noticed the flight staff being just as nice, calm and efficient today as they were back then. It’s the security on the ground that has made flying such a PITA. The emphasis tends to be what you can’t take on board, what you shouldn’t say and what you mustn’t do. If I’m flying I put everything metal in my carry on, wear cargo pants that don’t need a belt and have plenty of pockets for passport, ticket etc, wear light shoes that come off easily, and don’t rush to board (we’re all leaving at the same time, why stress yourself out?). Also Xanax, a glass of red, immediately take my shoes off, fire up the tablet (has an aircraft ever been affected by an electronic gizmo?), and just enjoy the flight. Some guidelines for inexperienced or stressed passengers wouldn’t go amiss.
I’ve been singled out a few times for extra checks - I have black, wavy hair and olive skin - and just try to make a (suitable) joke of it. They’re just doing their job and I, like most passengers, would prefer them to do so. One flight back from Belfast, in 2002, I was seated right at the back, in the back row by the window, with three large guys with crew cuts. After half an hour the guy nearest me said he thought I was alright (I’d consumed a couple of pints of the black stuff and was marvelling at the sunset) and that they were special forces. Three huge soldiers for little old me!
I’ve been singled out for extra-special treatment a number of times, though I may be aging out of the profile. I’m always very polite. They’re just doing their jobs, and if I think racism or something else is involved, the time to usefully pursue that is afterward, not during.
I agree that good manners are useful in avoiding altercations on planes.
Good manners can also help you get to a better seat (or even an upgrade to the next class up.)
My summation seems to have attracted some attention. I meant what I said, but I didn’t say all that I meant. With your permission I’ll try again. I don’t believe in retracting things said, even if poorly delivered. So this will be purely additive …
Take 2:
While you are back there I am responsible for your life. I can kill you with a well-timed flick of the wrist. Or*, more to the point, *through neglect or inattention or sloppy decision-making. You don’t surrender responsibility for your life lightly to me. Nor do I take it lightly from any one of you. Much less from all of you. I have a much greater practical, legal, and above all moral responsibility to each and all of you than I do to myself. Risks I might willingly assume were I alone are far beyond the pale when all of you are riding behind me and depending upon me to not let you down; to deliver you safe and sound to wherever we’re all going. Not just most of the time, but every time. Period. Amen. And I will succeed at that, or very literally die trying. I owe you that.
We *throughout the industry *work very hard to control all the controllable risks (e.g. mechanical failure, poor execution) and to mitigate the uncontrollable ones (e.g. weather). Human misbehavior whether due to ignorance, irrationality, or malice is a bigger wild card than either of the above. And as such deserves to be given a wider berth than does, say weather.
Now I am really confused. Why wouldn’t he check his bag all the way through to his final destination?
He could either:
Check in at first airport
Check bag to first stop
Land at intermediate airport
Leave security
Retrieve bag
Recheck bag/ check in for flight
Go back through security
Get on next flight
Vs.
Can you check this all the way through to my final destination?
Sure.
WTF?
Obviously this is on a much lower level, but speaking of passenger stupidity…
My best friend is a pilot for a major airline, and has been for going on 30 years now. Recently he had a passenger who, despite all the warning signs, tried to sneak a smoke in the on-board restroom. Of course, they’re equipped with detectors so he was busted immediately.
Consistent with what others have said here, there wasn’t a big deal made over this while he was on board. But when the flight reached its destination, the passenger was handed over to someone on the ground — I’m not sure exactly who — and no doubt faced some unpleasantness.
The movies that they show on planes are cut differently from the theatre release, different from the DVD release, different from the foreign release, different from the TV and Cable releases.
Obviously, there are different cuts for different airlines, because of language differences. In English and subtitles, no airline I fly on would include the F-word.
(PS: why do some people find it so hard to believe that sometimes Airline Staff just go all out of control?)
Because I fly a lot and have never seen this, whereas I’ve seen many passengers make incredibly bad decisions about their own behavior. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but domestically and internationally, I haven’t seen it.
Well, this happened to my friend Chris and his father.
Synopsis: A week after two America West pilots were found to be flying while drunk, my friend’s father asked if the pilot had taken a breathalyzer test. The crew kept the plane grounded for 2.5 hours, tested the pilot, and then kicked the two of them off the plane- all while letting the rest of the passengers know just whose fault it was that the flight was delayed.
They cut the movies they show on the overhead screens, but the bit you quoted was about the on-demand entertainment, of which I have many times watched R-rated movies that included sex and cursing. This has been my experience on United.
(post shortened)
Excellent post (including the part I didn’t quote). Thanks for posting it. No one has a right to a plane flight (unless they own the plane 
).
Flying a plane, dealing with mechanical or medical emergencies, and dealing with passengers is a full time job. I do not want my plane’s flight crews being distracted by some ass looking for attention or special considerations. Error on the side of safety. Put them off and let someone else straighten out their problems. My primary concern is landing on time and in one piece.
Because people lie to make themselves look better after they get in trouble for behaving badly. Of course the OP’s friend is not going to give the actual story of just what he did, he’s only going to give sparse details to make it look like he was just some completely innocent person who did nothing wrong, which I do not believe for one second. An airline is *not *going to turn a plane around and go back to the gate to kick off a passenger simply because he used the word fuck. You are deluded if you believe that to be 100% truthful.
When someone is verbally abusive in my office, I ask them to leave. Why should it be any different in the flight attendant’s workplace?
This sort of rote rule-following is designed to allow people whose job skills are suited for shirts with embroidered nametags and the phrase “You want fries with that?” to pass themselves off as trained professionals.
I asked my brother and his wife who are both flight attendants about this incident and they both said absolutely they will (and have) remove someone that appears agitated and angry.
They said it’s not so much the f-word, it’s really the emotion they detect in the person.
Ok. Don’t fly the airlines under question. No airline I use has overhead screens anymore, and no airline I use shows R-rated movies in cattle-class. Dunno about business+.
It sounded to me like they gate checked his carry-on and he was worried about having to wait for it at the destination gate. Had he known his connection was going to be so tight, he would have held on to it a little more tightly.
(Do any airlines even give you the option of checking a bag partway?)
When asked to check my carry on, I’ve replied, “that won’t work for me”. Seriously, go back to free baggage checks and we’d be cool.