And i'm supposed to do that how?

[cassie]

I'm a sales agent representative for an airline and I get bothersome customers a lot but this one woman stands out above all others.

I work the second shift, 3-11pm, and i'm used to dealing with...strange calls, to say the least. This was the strangest call ever and it had me and my whole team and team lead laughing our butts off by the end of it.

A woman, flying, as in already in the plane and flying, to San Francisco calls me complaining about a kid behind her who won't stop kicking her seat. Immediately I think to myself..."what the heck?" but I ask her if she's brought it to the attention of the flight attendant. She said she had and the boy would still not stop kicking her seat. I told her to ask the flight attendant again to talk with the boy and get him to stop because there's really nothing I can do about it and she's already in mid flight. She makes me wait on the line and this is what I hear:

Woman: excuse me, are there any other seats available on this flight that I can move to? (no mention of the kid kicking her chair)

Flight attendant: No mam i'm sorry there are no available seats.

The woman comes back to me on the phone and starts complaining that the flight attendant wont give her another seat and the kid is still kicking her. I tell the woman that I heard her conversation with the flight attendant and asked why she didn't mention the kid kicking her. Oh boy does she get mad. She starts accusing me of hating the elderly and that I must want her to get beat up by this kid because i'm not doing anything about it and then starts talking about her bad back and how the airline is going to pay her medical bills because they wont move her to another seat away from the kid. (i'm trying not to laugh at this point) Again, I tell her that i'm sorry but she is in mid flight and i'm on the ground. I cannot do anything to help her situation and the only thing she can do is to discuss it with the flight attendant. She argues with me about the kid and all I can do is tell her that i'm very sorry but that I can't do anything and only the flight attendant can help her out. Well, she doesn't like that I guess. She's like "I want you to make this kid stop kicking my chair! Why is that so hard for you to do?!" What am I supposed to do? Fly up there with my superpowers, enter the plane and cut the kids legs off so he can never kick another chair again? I soooo want to be sarcastic with her but I can't because I have to be professional. Meanwhile i'm trying so hard not to laugh and I don't understand why she's going back and forth with me on this. The whole call takes about an hour btw, OMG! For the fifth time I tell her that I am on the ground, in Texas, and I cannot get to her when her plane is miles in the air over california. Then she calls me and the flight attendant both idiots and asks to speak to my manager. THANK GOD! I couldn't wait to give that phone away. An hour of my life went poof with her. Then....she returns.

What the heck?! My manager can't deal with her either and so he basically gives me permission to hang up on her (which we never do because we are not allowed to unless they are harrassing us). So there she is still complaining and again I apologize that there's nothing I can do, ask if there's anything else I can help her with and when she says "no you _____ idiot girl, all I want is to be moved away from this ______ kid who's _______ kicking my _______ chair... (and on and on and on)". Now, with all this cussing the woman is doing and her being hostile with me I can hang up on her and not get in trouble woo, so thats what I did.

I never felt so sorry for a flight attendant in my life. The things they have to go through, at least I'm on the phone and can hang up.

[sms001]

A woman, flying, as in already in the plane and flying, to San Francisco calls me complaining about a kid behind her who won't stop kicking her seat.

Good. Lord. I can see why she stands out. Sometimes you just don't want to know what the "thought" process behind some of these requests are.

The only thing I can think of to have done is to ask extraordinarily crazy lady to give her phone to the flight attendant and hope that you and a sane person could work something out.

[Soulstealer]

I thought they weren't allowed to turn cellphones on during flights, not that it's actually going to do anything but that's the rule.

Also doesn't this kid have a parent who's supposedly in charge of him?

[donruss]

Good Lord


That gives new meaning to you can't fix stupid!

[princess4life]

You cold have always told her to hand the phone to the kid. LOL could you imagine the reaction from the kid.

Me:"Hey this lady is complaining you keep kicking her seat could you please cut it out?"
Kid: WTF I am not she is just a crazy old lady

[Bright_Star]

I would have told her to give the phone to the flight attendant & then I woould have told her about the situation & then had hung up. Voila...lol.

[Shengirl]

When I was younger, I once had a little brat kicking my seat. So I turned around and politely asked his mom to stop him. Her response?

"He's seven! What can I do?" I wanted to yell back at her, "SMACK HIM." Probably would have if it were me now and not me when I was thirteen.

So I waited until the mother was looking away, and I gave the kid my patented death glare. His eyes widened, and he didn't kick me again for the rest of the flight.

[ArenaBoy]

I thought they weren't allowed to turn cellphones on during flights, not that it's actually going to do anything but that's the rule.

At certain times all electronic equipment has to be off. Take off and landing are usually the times as to when you turn off your stuff.
The reason for this being is that electronics interfere with the planes controls. Mythbusters did an experiment on it and it's a busted myth. They turned up electronics to full power and it did nothing to the plane.

[Broomjockey]

You know, I'd be willing to bet it's one of those "little white lie" situations. They say it interferes with the plane, but really, they don't want people to have small, possible projectiles out and about. If it's turned off, it's likely stowed. And if it's stowed, and something happened, the cell phone/etc. isn't going to go flying off and peg someone in the head.

[PhotoChick]

the faa recently did some tests and determined that it would be possible to have cell phones in the air but decided to keep the current rule to avoid backlash from business/frequent fliers.

I'll try finding a link when I'm not feeding the baby.

[Seshat]

I can see it as a possibility, however. Most modern electronics are well shielded, as (presumably) are the plane's fly-by-wire controls. But all it would take is a damaged piece of electronics that's no longer shielded, and a damaged, poorly shielded fly-by-wire line, and you'd get horrible havoc. The Mythbusters probably tested shielded electronics and shielded fly-by-wire.

That said, it's unlikely. But it's less unlikely (IMO, YMMV) than some of the accidents that have occurred.

[MadRocketScientist]

I can see it as a possibility, however. Most modern electronics are well shielded, as (presumably) are the plane's fly-by-wire controls. But all it would take is a damaged piece of electronics that's no longer shielded, and a damaged, poorly shielded fly-by-wire line, and you'd get horrible havoc. The Mythbusters probably tested shielded electronics and shielded fly-by-wire.

That said, it's unlikely. But it's less unlikely (IMO, YMMV) than some of the accidents that have occurred.

Actually, Fly-By-Wire controls are run in triplicate, which means at least two of the three separate signal cables would have to be unshielded before a stray signal could interfere.

[Flood]

I just figured she was using one of the in-plane phones that you swipe a credit card to use.

Cell-phones on the plane really won't interfere with anything, but when you're in the air, you're generally not in range of any cell towers.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I just figured she was using one of the in-plane phones that you swipe a credit card to use.

Then she'd be bitching about the charge...

I think I heard/read somewhere that the chances of a cell phone or laptop or whatever interfering with the plane's controls are extremely slim, but theoretically possible, and they tell you to turn them off more as a "better safe than sorry" precaution...I don't know where, though...

[sms001]

cell phone interfering with the plane's controls are extremely slim

Hey. Here's an idea. Let's not take ANY chances with the metal tube zooming along at hundreds of miles an hour thousands of feet in the air.

'k?

thnx.





(Plus, Jeebus! People are annoying enough with them on the subway or other places where you can't get away from them. Stick to your guns FAA!)