This was on an America West flight out of San Francisco. The flight crew ordered her off the plane.
The airline spokeswoman said the passengers removal was justified because it was a safety issue and the airline takes safety seriously.
Serious enough to keep the passenger off the plane, but not the flight crew.:smack:
I didn’ hear the details surrounding this incident. Was this just a rude comment / joke? Maybe they felt these comments justified taking a closer look at her. So maybe when she left the plane they asked her a bunch of questions and once they established the fact that she was not a safety risk, they put her on another plane.
Remind me to not joke around on airplanes.
Link from Bay City News via SFGate.
I don’t know, now. I don’t see how this comment could be interpreted as a threat in the way that ‘Does my gun count as a carry-on’ can. She was just referring to a recent news story in which pilots did in fact fly drunk, which is bound to cause he some anxiety.
Either there’s more to this story than is being reported, I think, or someone at America West was just having a really crappy day.
Everything dealing with air flight is very sensitive now, so even jokes like that can’t be tolerated. It creates unneasiness with the rest of the passangers, and in a hightened state of tension already, you could end up with more overly roudy/violent passengers. Eh, that may be an overexageration, but still, right now, airlines are doing everything they can to make their customers feel safer and more secure in flying, and having a statement like that made can cause questions and concern amongst passengers that may get picked up, even after a joke. It’s like goofing with the person at the check out counter about “Well, I’ve kept my bags with me the whole time…except for those five minutes when I had some guy in a turban watch them while I ran to the rest room.” Jokes like that weren’t tolerated before 9-11. Why people think comments like that are safe to make nowadays, I have no idea.
Kicking her off was a bit harsh, perhaps. I hope they at least gave her a pass for a later flight for free. But people need to learn to use a bit more common sense nowadays. Especially when dealing with senstive situations.
. . . except for checking whether their pilots are actually sober, of course . . .
I’ve heard enough bad stories about America’s Worst that I’m convinced I should never fly with them.
There was no excuse or reason to justify kicking her off the plane. I hope she sues America Worst and gets a huge judgement.
I find it disturbing that the airport security have now the right to almost do a rectal search on passengers today because the USA have finally discovered what terrorism is but on the other hand a passenger is not even allowed to ask is the crew that will be holding his life in their hands is fit to pilot the plane or not…
The joking part aside if you ask me to get my shoes of in case I might be a terrorist you can be certain I reserve the right to ask about the crew ability to perform their duty if I see fit.
And I defy anyone to find a logic reason why this simple question could have been seen has a threat by any human with a functionning brain…
After all if a customer in a bank was asking if the accounting staff was full of ex andersen peoples no one would think they might plan an armed robbery because of that question…
knee jerk reaction from a pretty stupid flight attendant is my verdict.
NINJA
The woman probably just botched the delivery and came across as creepy and threatening somehow. To be really funny, you’d have to do it totally deadpan. I can see my mother-in-law pulling this one off - ten seconds of silence, then the house comes down.
I could see it coming across weird if she looked around, leaned in, and asked in a conspiratorial whisper if they’d checked the flight crew for sobriety. That is, if her question implied that she had some special knowledge about their sobriety.
Daniel
It be an easy way to overcome this by having the pilots great the passengers as they got on the plane. I think there’s always been at least one pilot there at the door everytime I’ve flown, and that’s a pretty reassuring thing.
I agree, it was probably just poor delivery on the part of the passenger, and a bit of an overeation from the stewerdess, but overall, not too big a deal. Like I said, if the airline gave the woman a free ticket for the next flight out, it’s all good. Of course, if they don’t, then I feel she should be able to hassle them until they give her some recompense, but a big lawsuit I think is just stupid.
I’m more shocked at this couple that was not allowed on a flight because they were too obese and didn’t buy two seats a peice. THAT’s fucking ridiculous.
Stupidity on the part of the airline and airport.
I would’ve taken a different tack and said, no, I wasn’t joking and yes, I did/do want to know if the pilots of the airplane I’m on are sober. I don’t at all see how this is threatening. Threatening language would’ve been if she asked if anyone had a match (reference to the shoe bomber guy) and then said, hey, hey, hey, it was just a joke.
I think she has a very strong case and I hope she hires a lawyer. I don’t think 9/11 should mean that freedom of speach goes out the window. And this was definitely not yelling fire in a crowded theater.
Spoken much better than I, trishdish.
I had no idea that America West pilots were flying drunk. Not until now. Good job, Ms. Stewardess, you’ve successfully publicized the fact that your airline is unsafe, reactionary and humorless.
I love how folks are comparing “Are the pilots sober” to “Did you get the gun in my suitcase.” Both are jokes, but if you take them both seriously, the gun comment represents a danger, while the sobriety comment represents a passenger with a legitimate question.
Although DanielWithrow has a good point, it could be taken as a threat if she implied she’d seen to it that the pilots weren’t sober. But that’d take some doing.
I hope she sues their pants off. Making threats in jest should be punishable, but making a joke shouldn’t be. Next thing you know asking if the president is sober will be a crime.
This reminds me of Ari Fleisher saying after Sept 11th that “people should watch what they say”.
Freakish.
In case anyone is curious, a nearly identical thread is going right now in IMHO here.
What did they think she was going to take advantage of the drunken pilots and slam the plane into the Sears Tower? Kicking her off the plane is one of the dumbest things I’ve heard in quite some time.
This is amazing.
Two Captains were arrested for flying while drunk. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020710/ts_nm/airlines_joke_dc_1
A passenger on a plane asking if the crew is sober is justified.
How can that be a threat?
A very angry email is going to America West from me.
Slee
It’s beginning to remind me of my first-grade teacher.
“Wipe that smirk off your face right now, young man, or you can just stay here in Boston with your head on your desk while the rest of the plane goes to Disneyland. How would you like that?”