PASSENGER TOSSING Pax boo as woman is removed from plane

Posted on 10/14/2015

What’s going on with flight attendants? They seem ever ready to boot customers off airplanes at the slightest infraction – real or perceived.   The latest incident had other passengers on an American Airlines flight booing the crew after a sobbing woman was kicked off the plane because she apparently did not hear an instruction to sit down.
Footage captured on-board Flight 408 to Portland, Oregon, shows the unidentified passenger pleading with a female flight attendant after being told she needed to 'come off the aircraft'.

The woman, who had tears streaming down her face, had reportedly not heard a male flight attendant who asked her to sit down so that the aisle could be cleared before take-off.

She subsequently complained to the female attendant about her 'rude' colleague, according to 9News. Passengers told the news site that the attendant she complained to then ordered her to leave the plane.

In footage, taken by passenger Bill Byrne, who was sitting one row behind the woman, the unnamed female attendant can be heard saying, “I need to have you come off the aircraft.”

In response, the woman says, “You're so mean to me. I didn't do anything.”

The attendant repeats that the woman must come off the aircraft, and when the woman asks,  if she is “serious” the attendant replies with a threat of police action if the passenger does not agree to leave the plane.

The weeping woman says, “This can't be legal, I seriously didn't do anything.”

Passengers seated near the front of the plane can be heard defending the woman, with many saying it is the last time they will fly with the airline. “Never again,” one male flier vows.

Another tells crew members, “You just lost a lot of customers.”

As the tearful woman finally gets up to leave the plane, the passengers begin to boo.

“Scr*w this airline!” one man shouts as more passengers join in.

Speaking to KATU.com, Byrne, who recorded the incident on his cell phone, said, “It was nuts, and that poor woman was so upset.

“She handled it well, but you could tell it was super-embarrassing for her.”

The woman was apparently rebooked on to the next flight to Portland. An American Airlines spokesman said, “We are currently investigating the incident in question but the passenger was booked on the next available flight.”

That really isn’t good enough.  

We see these stories more and more frequently where cranky flight attendants toss passengers off planes at the slightest provocation, or alternatively allow drunken misbehaving passengers to board aircraft.  

If a passenger is misbehaving by all means get rid of them before the doors close, and while there is undoubtedly another side to this story, given the reaction of the other passengers – it looks like the flight attendant overreacted.

It would seem to me that there should be something in their training that covers the handling of passengers without bullying, and with common sense.  Isn’t that the major part of their job?