irrational reactions?

[mamajoan]

For reasons not entirely clear to me, this story pisses me off almost beyond the capability for rational thought.

To sum up: About a week ago, a couple of America West pilots were fired when they were found to be drunk while operating an airplane. Today, a passenger on an America West flight made a joke -- a fucking JOKE -- about wondering whether her flight's crew was sober, and they took her off the plane.

Augh! I can't even ... just ... fuck it, but AUGH. And see above re: rational thought, lack thereof.

Dude, this is not about security. Call it what it is: it's spite. Some thin-skinned stewardess -- oh, I'm sorry, "flight attendant" -- was offended by the woman's JOKE and decided to kick her off the plane. I hope that woman sues the airline to hell and back. Oh, I especially love how the airline spokesperson says that it's hard to tell whether someone's joking or not. What the fuck does that even MEAN? If she wasn't joking, what was she saying? That she had actual *evidence* the crew was drunk? If so, shouldn't you be kicking THEM off the damn plane?

Sigh.

And my Worldcon tickets are on America West. I swear to you, if I could afford it, I would cancel those tickets right now and get other ones on another airline. Even if it meant even more inconvenient stopovers than the ones I've already got. I swear.

Comments

Totally disagree.

[munoz.livejournal.com]

When passenger airplanes first became common, stewardesses were registered nurses. This was necessary because, with such a strange technology, people often got sick and sometimes suffered from heart problems. The nurses were on hand to take care of any passengers who panicked and became ill.

Once that particular problem went away as airlines became ubiquitous, stewardesses were no longer required to be nurses. However, one of their primary responsibilities remains the well-being of the passengers under their care, and this includes their emotional well-being.

Along these same lines, airplane media are carefully selected to avoid movies that involve crashing airplanes, avoid CNN broadcasts about, say, 9/11, and generally keep the passengers from dwelling on traumatic things revolving around plane crashes.

It is NOT a joke, or rather it is a joke in IRRESPONSIBLY POOR TASTE, for someone to quip out loud about drunk pilots. I, for one, side with America West and its flight attendants on this one. The emotional well-being of the passengers around the joker is more important than that joker's "free speech." It's the same as yelling "Fire" in a crowded theater when there is no fire. It's dangerous, irresponsible, and in the "Fire" case it's actually illegal.

Re: Totally disagree.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

No, I'm sorry, but that's bullshit. If the passenger had made a joke about weapons, okay; or if she had gotten onto the plane's intercom and said "Hey everybody, I wonder if the pilot's sober! Ha ha!" then maybe your argument would fly. But all she did was make an offhand comment to a flight attendant as she was boarding the plane. Yes, it was in poor taste, but that doesn't merit kicking her off the flight.

If there were any passengers on the flight who *didn't* know about the incident, I would actually argue that they have the right to know, regardless of what it might do to their emotional well-being. Not, of course, that the best way for them to find out would be by overhearing someone else's joke, but...! Still, in the circumstances, the likelihood that any other passenger even HEARD her joke, let alone that the person who heard it would be the one person in two hundred who hadn't already heard about it and whose emotional wellbeing was noticeably harmed by it, is slim to none.

In any case, if passengers' emotional comfort is the issue, how does removing this one person solve that? Wouldn't it be more effective to, say, force the pilots to take a breathalyzer?

Re: Totally disagree.

[munoz.livejournal.com]

Nope, sorry, doesn't fly.


But all she did was make an offhand comment to a flight attendant as she was boarding the plane. Yes, it was in poor taste, but that doesn't merit kicking her off the flight.

And then maybe she'd tell her neighbor passenger the same "joke", and he'd start to hyperventilate, then flip out, then get other people worried...

Having just gotten two 5+ hour flights I'm recently familiar with the potential for claustrophobia, and for people who are already afraid of heights and a lack of control (such as myself), hearing something like that could potentially be a problem. The fact that it's *stupid* doesn't make it untrue.

If there were any passengers on the flight who *didn't* know about the incident, I would actually argue that they have the right to know, regardless of what it might do to their emotional well-being.

That's not the attendant's call. His or her job is to provide for the well-being of the passengers, not their knowledge of potential (not actual) compromises.

Still, in the circumstances, the likelihood that any other passenger even HEARD her joke, let alone that the person who heard it would be the one person in two hundred who hadn't already heard about it and whose emotional wellbeing was noticeably harmed by it, is slim to none.

Slim to none, yes, but nonzero. And nonzero 30K feet in the air in a cramped, dry-air space strapped to two highly volatile jet engines - those are not odds I'm willing to take, if they can be made moot.

In any case, if passengers' emotional comfort is the issue, how does removing this one person solve that? Wouldn't it be more effective to, say, force the pilots to take a breathalyzer?

Ooo! Straw man! You know these are two different things. Certainly, they should force the pilots to take a breathalyzer; but the failure to do this does *not* warrant someone else doing something potentially dangerous. The flight attendant has no control over pilot sobriety, and can't be held responsible for that, or forced not to do his or her job because of it.

Are you afraid of flying? Do you sweat in your seat on takeoff and landing? Do you take antihistamines 1 hour before getting on the plane so you'll be sedated when you buckle in? If not, then you understandably can't see how such an off-the-cuff remark could be extremely dangerous. But it is, idiotic or not. The attendant made the right call.