a bad day... (flight attendant tale)

[wagegoth]

During the landing procedure, a guest tried to retrieve his belongings from the overhead compartment, but there was no announcement that it was okay for any guest to do so while in descent. One flight attendant tried to stop the guest and explained the procedures, the guest didn't listen, managed to open the compartment and the guest's luggage hit the flight attendant on the head.

On the flight attendant's behalf, I heard an updated story that it wasn't the guest's luggage that hit him in the head, but the overhead bin lid. So the guest apparently not only ignored the flight attendant, but proceeded to hit him in the head with the bin.

[emax4]

Don't forget the fact that not only did the offending passenger refuse to apologize for her actions, but risked the lives of others while reaching for her luggage when instructed not to.

[PepperElf]

and i can imagine NO ONE would be in a good mood after being hit in the head with luggage


especially after telling the passenger to sit back down.


if i remember the passenger was a jerk to the attendant - even after the luggage brained him.

[Sapphire Silk]

The flight attendant should have taken a dive . . . dropped on the floor, moaning and groaning, put all the drama he could into it.

Even if the SC probably doesn't have a conscience to emotionally blackmail, the attendant could at least have gotten out of the job with workman's comp (since according to the article I read he was planning to quit anyway).

[Dreamstalker]

Consider what would have happened if the bag had hit one of the other passengers, possibly a little kid. They should have arrested the passenger for disobeying safety instructions.

Indeed. I know on approach to Reagan Airport, passengers can't leave their seats for a fair amount of time prior to landing, and that is enforced. Not to the hogtying-with-seat-belt extent, but I have seen an SC escorted back to their seat rather quickly (it seems like they just stood up to be a jerk about it).

The news here also omitted a lot of the pertinent details. They had an 'etiquette expert' on and she basically said: if people are rude to you suck it up, your job is to serve the customer. (they've had this expert on before, both mom and I take issue with most of what she has to say). There's only so much one can do to placate SCs before the gloves have to come off in some fashion.

Has anyone heard whether anything happened to the passenger? (probably not)

[mikoyan29]

Indeed. I know on approach to Reagan Airport, passengers can't leave their seats for a fair amount of time prior to landing, and that is enforced. Not to the hogtying-with-seat-belt extent, but I have seen an SC escorted back to their seat rather quickly (it seems like they just stood up to be a jerk about it).

The news here also omitted a lot of the pertinent details. They had an 'etiquette expert' on and she basically said: if people are rude to you suck it up, your job is to serve the customer. (they've had this expert on before, both mom and I take issue with most of what she has to say). There's only so much one can do to placate SCs before the gloves have to come off in some fashion.

Has anyone heard whether anything happened to the passenger? (probably not)

Your job is to serve the customer but your job is also to maintain the safety of the aircraft and the passengers on that aircraft. Having passengers moving about the cabin while the plane is moving does not foster that job. Where is the etiquette person talking about the two year that can't be bothered to follow simple instructions? Oh wait, he's a customer and the airlines are supposed to bend over and kiss his ass. I'm sick of petulant children getting their way, what about all the people that follow the rules? Oh yeah, they're the ones that have to suck it up and pay for the petulant children.

I've not hear anythign about what happend to the passenger but I'm going to guess that he's getting a couple free flights for his inconvenience.....

[Dreamstalker]

Your job is to serve the customer but your job is also to maintain the safety of the aircraft and the passengers on that aircraft. Having passengers moving about the cabin while the plane is moving does not foster that job.

I'm guessing the 'expert' (who probably never actually worked a service job in any capacity) was trying to apply her ideas about a land-based service job--which is comparing apples and swordfish. I have some idea of the training and certifications flight attendants have to go through, add the general stress and a percentage of passengers who think that their ticket gives them the right to be assholes and I am not surprised he snapped after being hit.

I have a friend who was a flight attendant for about 20 years, and finally had to quit because the SCs were getting too much. Some of the tales he told were

[Sliceanddice]

actually according to the article and defense attorney she hit him with the luggage AT THE BEGINNING of the flight. this actually started after she had to gate check and her bag wasnt immediately available when landing.

but it was a bad bad bad flight.

[Dreamstalker]

I had a suspicion it started elsewhere, the news report we saw conveniently left that part out.

[Abby_Normal]

According to some extra details in this article, the passenger had an oversized bag at the start she ended up having to check in and that's when he was hit in the head. Then she bitched because her bag wasn't immediately available when the plan landed.

After the altercation:

Slater then activated the aircraft emergency slide on door R-2, proceeded to the chute, looked down to ensure that nobody was below it as he had been trained to do, and he deployed the device and went down it safely, his attorney said.

My personal favorite part:

Police sources said that when authorities found Slater he seemed to be in the midst having sexual relations.

[dendawg]

Here's a CGI re-enactment of the whole ordeal.

[tropicsgoddess]

Oh man, that is one helluva way to quit a job! That dude has some big cajones to do that!!

[fireheart]

Here's a CGI re-enactment of the whole ordeal.

Wow, I had to laugh at the fact that while the Chinese guy was talking over the top of most of it, the part where he curses out the customer over the PA system was actually KEPT IN, bleeped out curse words and all . Also, the CGI footage shows the overhead bin being opened and then the oversized bag falling on the guy's head.

Just a note folks for the video, the whole thing's in Chinese.

[fireheart]

Now even PFB's getting in on the action.

Oddly enough, most of the views there are similar to the views here.

[mikoyan29]

It seems like just about every news report I've seen about this mentions his tirade and post tirade actions in quite vivid detail but gloss over her actions. I mean, I was under the impression that we were supposed to have zero tolerance when it comes to passengers disobeying the safety instructions from flight attendants. How come she isn't facing charges for what she did? It just doesn't seem right.