Caracas Flight Returns To Mia-fighter Jet Escort

[WingNaPrayer]

(Before you go ballistic, Don Knotts was a succsessful, respected entertainer)

Not to mention a neurotic, maladjusted all around basket case. But sometimes, the shoe fits and you just wear it.


(you certainly didn't think I was going to pass this one up did you?)

 

[Mach85ER]

Garfield1966,

Thanks for the additional info. From a pilots view, it gives a great insight of why they turned back to Miami. If there is something that can be learned from what happened, I hope to hear about it in the future.

 

[Fubijaakr]

You don't have a clue about the job of commanding a jet, especially now.

Amen to that, Capt. This is EXACTLY the kind of passenger situation that could be a diversion.

 

[Wretched Wrench]

In all fairness, any flight attendant who would cause the dispatch of two fighter jets against a 69 year old woman, is NOT a flight attendant who should be on an aircraft and responsible for the safety of all on board.

AA flight attendants continue to cry wolf in order to show passengers, and AA who's the boss. This brings us closer to the day when one of them will cry wolf for real and no one will listen

I think Wing has it right, there.

Perhaps if we elevated perceived rudeness to a felony or capital offense, flight attendants would get the respect they deserve. Or maybe we could give them licenses and powers of arrest.

I wonder what effect all this had on the other passengers and how this affected their choice of airlines in the future.

 

[Spruance]

BULL! If it was that important, he could have gotten something from any one of the dozen or so snack bars in the gate area and be gone on time.

He was just another union lackey flexing his grip on the airline.

What a rod you are! Get a life!

 

[WingNaPrayer]

BULL! If it was that important, he could have gotten something from any one of the dozen or so snack bars in the gate area and be gone on time.

He was just another union lackey flexing his grip on the airline.

What a rod you are! Get a life!

I've got one. In this instance, it was the pilot who was having a childish tantrum, and there are those of you standing by to back him up and condone his actions that cost the company thousands and thousands of dollars, all for his one single hissy fit.

Oh, but he's union . . . can't touch that!

 

[FWAAA]

Will miracles never cease? I agree with Wing. B)

 

[Mach85ER]

WingNaPrayer,

You never did answer my question about the Captain in your situation. Did you know what his duty day was, when his meal schedule was and when was the next time he was going to eat? As I mentioned, it is a safety issue, not a pass for a free buffet.

The fact is that you do not know these these answers and you sound just like some loudmouth in 34E that thinks he knows the best way out of the turbulence.

AA with it's idiotic policy of not involving the Captains in late connecting situations probably strands thousands each year, mostly without meal or hotel support in weather situations, by not slightly delaying the last outbound flight.

Back to the original subject, you're just babbling about information and situations which you essentially have very little knowledge about.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

You never did answer my question about the Captain in your situation.

Thats because I don't care. That's not my problem and this pilot had no business causing this kind of a delay and causing that many passengers to mis-connect. You don't delay a flight that long and cost your employer thousands of dollars when you could easily stop at any snack bar and pick up a meal in less than five minutes, and most likely get a refund from your employer. The pilot on MY flight wanted special treatment and because catering messed up, he put the screws to his employer to the tune of thousands of dollars.

There's no excuse, especially when so many other options were available. Now I realize that most pilots think their #### don't stink, but there's no doubt that their actions certainly do.

Again, he had options, but instead he chose to cost his financially troubled company a pile of money anway with his childish actions.

 

[Mach85ER]

WingNaPrayer,

You may be right about the Captain on your flight, you were there. However, regarding the CCS flight, you are clueless regarding the command decisons the Captain made and the situation he had to deal with. You weren't there.

You want to babble about a old lady swinging at a FA and think it is nothing? Another pilot friend had a similar occurence just prior to 9/11 on a flight to Barranquilla (same type of crowd as CCS). FA brush against lady pax in aisle and apologises. Lady Pax winds herself up all the way through arrival where she tells the crew how "connected" she is and how the crew is going to "get it" on the layover.(She didn't get her free ticket for getting bumped inflight). Crew witness's lady at a suv loaded with hombres pointing at crew van. Crew van has to return to terminal after being followed and await armed escort and have armed guards at hotel layover.

There are a hundred different things to think about the short time they had to deal with on the CCS flight. Only a complete sniveling idiot would slam the crew at this point. If you insist, please provide your experiences of being in complete control of a $50 million dollar asset, 140 human lives with up to a $1/2 Billion in potential liability as you fly by a nuclear power plant with armed fighters nearby.

Than you "CSI"

 

[WingNaPrayer]

You want to babble about a old lady swinging at a FA

No, why would I do that when the FBI made it QUITE clear that it was a misunderstanding. No one "swung" at the flight attendant, it was "more like a tap" to get her attention.

Only a complete sniveling idiot would slam the crew at this point.

Well guess what, there more more than a hundred "complete sniveling idiots" on that plane then, many of whom got interviewed by the local media and basically stated they could not believe what the flight attendant did. It was great PR for the airline. I'm surprised AA doesn't force all of it's passengers to be bound in leg irons and wrist shackles bolted to the seats for the priviledge of riding on their planes.

You're going overboard with your scenarios in your zeal to make one brain dead flight attendant looking for her 15 minutes of fame look like she was some kind of hero who just saved all the passengers lives.

Remember the outcome. The FBI AND Local Authorities BOTH determined that the FA overreacted, that it was ALL a misunderstanding, and the woman was booked on ANOTHER AA flight and flown to Caracas.

I don't want to participate in the airline fodder of a carrier who's flight attendants, when getting tapped on the arm with "excuse me" or "pardon me" whip around with the look of Beelzebub in their eyes, scream at the passenger that they are going to jail, runs to the nearest phone, calls the captain and CLAIMS she was assaulted to get her way.

The FA should be fired. The pilot should be reprimanded for lack of assessment of the situation which cost the company a ton of dough.

Flight crews in the air are too paranoid to be there. They think the whole world wants to kill them or blow up their plane. They aren't there for passenger safety anymore. When paranoia sets in that deep for whatever reason, it's time to retire the wings and get out.

When the buzz went out around the airline that the flight was diverted because the flight attendant was assaulted (because she lied) everyone asked, was she hurt badly?

Of course the answer was . . .well . . . no.

Don't try to put me on the defensive on this one. This flight attendant was clearly in the wrong, clearly attempting to flex her self-imposed power over the sky upon a SIXTY NINE YEAR OLD WOMAN, and her poor judgment and bad actions cost the financially troubled carrier quite a bit. I say grab her union rep and go nail her ass to the wall!

You can bet every passenger on that plane is going to think twice about flying AA (Fighter Escort Airways) again.

The only one clueless about this flight appears to be you as, unless your keeping a great big secret, you weren't on that plane either. So when the woman was interviewed, not charged, apologized to and sent on another flight, it kind of makes the FA look like an idiot.

 

[orwell]

"Flight crews in the air are too paranoid to be there. They think the whole world wants to kill them or blow up their plane. They aren't there for passenger safety anymore. When paranoia sets in that deep for whatever reason, it's time to retire the wings and get out."



The whole world doesn't, but a lot of them do, and there's no way to tell the whackos who do from those who don't?

You think they're paranoid? Gee, why should they be? I mean, various authorities in Paris failed to weed out Richard the Shoe Bomber, and it was left to FA's "not there for passenger safety anymore" to save the flight.

Yes, there are a lot of bitter, union-protected FAs out there who will cloak themselves in the faux authority that is created by a generally paranoid society to take out their bad days on passengers, but you shouldn't forget the fact that barbarians at home and abroad still have US airlines in their crosshairs and that FAs are on the front line - and that means they still are there for passenger safety.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

various authorities in Paris failed to weed out Richard the Shoe Bomber

And that happened how long ago now? And what has happened since that has been noteworthy? Everything that has "happened" since has been a false alarm set off by an overzealous flight attendant. You had one idiot zealot with makeshift explosive material in a shoe that he damn near would have had to start a bonfire on the plane for it to do any good. A flight attendant got his matches/lighter away from him, and the passengers subdued him. That was a "no big deal" incident. The guy was so far away from being able to do anything with that "shoe" that it became laughable.

The fact still remains, you can give every passenger the benefit of the doubt and treat them with respect until they do something that causes you to take that respect away, and tapping a flight attendant to get their attention was NOT a valid reason to run to the captain and scream "I've been assaulted!"

She should be fired and stuck with the bill, along with the passenger. How long will it be now before AA starts adding to their announcements "Do Not Touch The Flight Attendants". I mean, their latest caveat added to their website is sure to scare away more than it's share of business.

Flight attendants aren't trained terrorist agents, they couldn't spot one if one stood right in front of them. What the airlines have them doing is just being paranoid and afraid of each and every little thing onboard an aircraft, and unfortunately, that includes the passengers who CAN tell that a flight attendant is treating them with undue suspicion.

 

[Fubijaakr]

The FA should be fired. The pilot should be reprimanded for lack of assessment of the situation which cost the company a ton of dough.

Flight crews in the air are too paranoid to be there. They think the whole world wants to kill them or blow up their plane.

Boy, you like to make snap judgments. I'll bet there are close to 3000 WTC families who wish a couple Captains had been MORE PARANOID on 9/11.

But, you Monday morning quarterbacks know better.

 

[orwell]

And that happened how long ago now? And what has happened since that has been noteworthy? Everything that has "happened" since has been a false alarm set off by an overzealous flight attendant.

The fact still remains, you can give every passenger the benefit of the doubt and treat them with respect until they do something that causes you to take that respect away, and tapping a flight attendant to get their attention was NOT a valid reason to run to the captain and scream "I've been assaulted!"

She should be fired and stuck with the bill, along with the passenger.

How long will it be now before AA starts adding to their announcements "Do Not Touch The Flight Attendants". I mean, their latest caveat added to their website is sure to scare away more than it's share of business.

Flight attendants aren't trained terrorist agents, they couldn't spot one if one stood right in front of them. What the airlines have them doing is just being paranoid and afraid of each and every little thing onboard an aircraft, and unfortunately, that includes the passengers who CAN tell that a flight attendant is treating them with undue suspicion.

How long ago it happened is irrelevant, unless you're willing to argue that everyone is ready to hold hands and sing "We Shall Overcome" as they watch the pretty silver birds fly through the air. Do you really think airlines are no longer among the targets of both capable terrorists as well as the generally insane?

Many things have happened since that are "noteworthy." You seldom hear when something is prevented - aside from outrageous things like Richard the Shoeman.

Agreed on your point about treating passengers with respect.

AA is not the only airline that is forced to scrutinize passengers more, but I guess you singularly enjoy picking on them.

Saying an FA couldn't spot a terrorist is an empty argument. You couldn't spot one, either. THAT IS THE POINT. You have to monitor passenger behavior, because anyone could be a whacko.