Last Updated on February 6, 2022
A New York children’s author frustrated by a delayed takeoff was escorted off the plane by police after using “salty” language.
He admitted in a telephone interview that he used the f-word, but says he was complaining to himself rather than anyone in particular as he waited for a ground crew to fix some problem with overhead compartments.
He says he didn’t think he was being “that loud,”  and that perhaps, he said it twice.
From there, he says, the airline overreacted. The only reason the male flight attendant heard the complaint (or complaints) was that he sat behind the angered passenger.
And here’s a case where the sum of the parts just doesn’t come close to equalling the whole of what happened.
Does anyone really believe that an airline would escort a customer off of a plane by muttering an f-word to himself once, maybe twice? Even if he said it loud enough for one person behind him to hear, is that really grounds for ejection?
The guy says that he asked people around him if they considered his behavior rude and they said no. But that means nothing: most people aren’t going to come right out and tell someone who’s complaining with the f-word that he’s being rude because they don’t know if he’ll fly off the handle and punch them. Few people want to get involved in a potential brouhaha, anyway.
If his account is completely accurate, and his only offense was muttering something to no one in particular, then yes, the airline definitely overreacted.
But I just wonder why the airline would take more time to call police to the plane when they were already running behind schedule because of a repair that had to be made before the plane could take off. The longer they take, the more risk they run of having everyone start dropping the f-bomb about the wait.
If this story were the plot of a mystery novel, I doubt many readers would accept the explanation as being completely plausible.   Does this story make sense to anyone else?
I agreed with the airline that ejected a family from (I think) New Hampshire from an airplane because the kid was screaming and taking off his seat belt. I’ve been on flights with screaming children who kick the back of the seat in front of them and quite frankly, I’d have cheered if that had happened on the flights I’ve been on.
Kicking someone off for muttering the F-word twice does seem excessive. But then, these are the same people who designed the seats to hold people smaller than super models and then charge someone slightly plus sized for two seats! Somehow, I am not all that surprised anymore.
I agreed with the airline that ejected a family from (I think) New Hampshire from an airplane because the kid was screaming and taking off his seat belt. I’ve been on flights with screaming children who kick the back of the seat in front of them and quite frankly, I’d have cheered if that had happened on the flights I’ve been on.
Kicking someone off for muttering the F-word twice does seem excessive. But then, these are the same people who designed the seats to hold people smaller than super models and then charge someone slightly plus sized for two seats! Somehow, I am not all that surprised anymore.
Airlines are generally over-the-top about everything – security, drink prices, the amount of tickets they sell… this isn’t surprising.
Airlines are generally over-the-top about everything – security, drink prices, the amount of tickets they sell… this isn’t surprising.