Fly the Friendly Skies

[OJsDad]

The union is now saying not so fast on blaming the flight attendant;

http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/330085-flight-attendant-union-defends-american-airlines-worker-after

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants is defending an American Airlines worker who was reportedly suspended after an apparent altercation with a passenger carrying an infant.

The flight attendant in question allegedly hit a woman with a stroller that she had brought on a flight and nearly struck her child while forcibly taking the stroller. A video after the alleged incident shows the woman in tears, before another passenger stands up and confronts the flight attendant. 

In a statement, the union – which represents American Airlines flight attendants – urged the public not to jump to conclusions about the reported episode, saying that the facts of the incident remain unclear.

"There are really two stories here related to this incident aboard a San Francisco to Dallas flight," the statement reads. "One, we don't know all of the facts related to a passenger who became distraught while boarding a plane and therefore neither the company nor the public should rush to judgment."

"Second, it appears another passenger may have threatened a flight attendant with violence, which is a violation of federal law and no small matter. Air rage has become a serious issue on our flights."

American Airlines said it was investigating the incident and expressed remorse for the situation.

"We are deeply sorry for the pain we have caused this passenger and her family and to any other customers affected by the incident," the airline said in a statement.

The incident aboard the American flight comes as United Airlines faces heightened scrutiny for an incident earlier this month in which a passenger was forcibly dragged off a flight after he refused to give up his seat to a United employee. 

The episode caused an uproar over flight crews' treatment of passengers and airlines' overbooking policies.

[trailrunner]

The union is now saying not so fast on blaming the flight attendant;

I'm sure there is another side of the story.  We only saw the last part of the incident in the video.  Here are my observations, sort of working backwards:

- The flight attendant was a hot-head and was out of line.  When the passenger challenged him, the FA should not have resorted to alpha-male posturing.  It's clear that the FA lost control.  As an employee, this is really wrong.

- The passenger who got up to challenge the FA was out of line.  He was trying to be a white knight.  He also should not have resorted to alpha-male posturing.  However, the union's assertion that he threatened the FA is a serious issue is implying that he's a terrorist and a bit of a stretch.  And even though he was wrong, buy his reaction, it does seem like the FA did something pretty egregious to the mom that started the incident.

- Not sure what's going on with the mom.  Obviously something happened that upset her.  I think (think) it was minor misunderstanding that turned into a power struggle.  The FA over-reacted and was curt, rude, or worse.  I doubt that he intentionally whacked her on the head, but during the silly give-me-that-stroller-or-else struggle, contact was made.

- I think the fundamental issue with these incidents is that a) the airline employees don't particularly like their jobs and aren't treated well by their management.  They can't take it out on management, but they do deal with the surly flying public every day, so it's natural for them to take out their frustration on the passengers; and b) a lot of the airline employees get used to bossing people around and become bullies and de facto cops.  A minor and innocent situation, like the stroller incident on AA, becomes a power struggle between a FA and the mom.  The FA has some basic authority, but it's unclear what happens when his authority isn't honored when they are trying to board a plane.  When it's a more significant issue, like the guy who lost his seat on the UA flight, the employees have zero empathy with the problem they are causing the passenger, and go into cop mode: they are the boss, and there will be consequences if you don't comply!  The entire business-customer relationship is lost at that point.

[mirth]

Multiple witnesses say the FA aggressively grabbed the stroller away from the mother, nearly striking one of her babies with the stroller. Some accounts indicated that the FA struck the mother in the face with the stroller as he grabbed it away.

The mother claimed another flight attendant told her she could try to fit the folded up stroller into one of the overhead bins.

The other passenger shouldn't have challenged the FA, but if he indeed watched a mother, with two baby children, get hit in the face with a stroller by an overly aggressive FA, I can understand his loss of composure.

[OJsDad]

I fly Southwest and have flown quite a lot the last three years.  I've never seen them allow anyone to bring their strollers onto the plane.  People always have to check them at the gate and then they're waiting for them when at the gate when they get off the plane.  Give that there usually isn't any spare room in the overhead compartments, it seems to be a good idea. 

[mirth]

I don't know about strollers, but I flew on a small Delta regional jet a couple weeks ago and almost everyone had a small wheeled piece of luggage in addition to a bag. And they all tried to fit the roll-on into the overhead, something that's almost impossible on those small planes. Then the roll-on had to go back out to the jet bridge to be stowed underneath.

It was a real PITA because you're trying to board and people ahead of you are trying to take their luggage back out to the jet bridge. I was amazed they were even allowed to bring the roll-on luggage onto the plane.

[MetalDog]

Wouldn't be as bad if the airlines weren't charging $25 for each checked bag.

[mirth]

I know. Still, people should have to gate check those wheeled bags on the smaller planes instead of trying to cram them into the overheads.

[OJsDad]

Southwest doesn't charge for the first 2 checked bags, and still people want to carry their bags on board.  It's really bad when a flight is sold out and the last people on spend 10 minutes insisting that their bags not be checked. 

[trailrunner]

I don't know about strollers, but I flew on a small Delta regional jet a couple weeks ago and almost everyone had a small wheeled piece of luggage in addition to a bag. And they all tried to fit the roll-on into the overhead, something that's almost impossible on those small planes. Then the roll-on had to go back out to the jet bridge to be stowed underneath.

It was a real PITA because you're trying to board and people ahead of you are trying to take their luggage back out to the jet bridge. I was amazed they were even allowed to bring the roll-on luggage onto the plane.

When I've flown on the small RJs, there is a cart outside the airplane for people to put their suitcases, even the smaller wheeled luggage.  Only thing allowed on the plane is your personal item (purse, backpack) and maybe a small gym bag.

[Con]

Having traveled with twins as babies myself I can only say I side 100% with he mother on this one.  You are in a state of survival mode when doing this.  The stroller is almost a critical item (especially when travelling alone).  You have to have somewhere safe to be able to put and secure the kids who look like they are at the crawling stage.  She also was flying from Argentina and had probably just completed a 10+ hour flight with the kids.  When travelling with twins every real hour is like 2 or 3 so the mom was probably exhausted and already close to a nervous breakdown.

I suspect that the first flight attendant was probably someone with more empathy and understanding of the situation re the stroller and understood the necessity of having the stroller close on hand for the single mom.  You do not realize the amount of stuff you need to take on board with for babies coupled with the feeling of helplessness at not being able to control the situation by yourself when both need attention and safety (re screaming climbing pulling on wires chewing feeding changing wiping clean entertaining soothing etc).  Its truly a nightmare for a single parent of twin babies.  It almost broke my wife and me travelling with them and my hat is off to anyone who has done this by themselves.

The second flight attendant was more interested in having his way and escalated this into a power struggle re the stroller.  Was he right perhaps but did he use empathy and common sense - no

I dont think its a white knight situation when any parent sees another distraught mother holding babies to step in.  The feeling of gratitude when there is someone else to help is overwhelming.  I know I am more empathetic to moms in this situation and can give examples where I have stepped in to help and or confront someone who is being a hazard to the parent/kids (none as extreme as this) that I wouldn't have done before becoming a parent with twins myself.

Con

[mirth]

I'm totally empathetic to the mom in this situation. Right or wrong, the FA who went off on her completely mishandled the situation and ended up looking like an a-hole.

It would have been hard to witness that and not speak up in defense of the mother.

[Steelgrave]

Ditto to the last two posts. The FA was being a bully and an a-hole. Someone on the flight did something other than pull out their IPhone and take video (although I'm glad there IS video or this wouldn't be a story). I'm simply glad the white knight passenger didn't get himself cuffed and thrown off the plane as well.

[Gusington]

Doesn't even have to be twins! When my daughters were younger, like 2 years and six months respectively...it was an airlift operation to get them anywhere. And to Con's point, that was with both me and The Wife taking care of them! Single handedly...I can't even imagine.

I wonder how the steward would have acted if it was a single dad, instead of a mom.

[Sir Slash]

Back when I worked for a living, being that it was in the Mental Health Field, we ran into many stressful situations when your last ounce of patience was tested mightily. We had to learn to spot when a co-worker was approaching the 'melt-down' phase and pull that person aside and tell them to go take a break and cool-off. We also had to learn to take that advice from each other about ourselves and do it-- not easy at all. Somebody should've pulled this guy aside and tell him to 'chill' for awhile. Problem is Management see this and thinks, "Loafing" so we had to learn to handle it on our own and cover for each other. Maybe not possible working for an airline, but they should encourage it. My 2 cents.

[Gusington]

No wonder you fit in here so well.