Gay couple rebuked for "kissing, touching" on flight

[Garfield1966]

It’s a free country and I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Taking the article at face value there were also to witnesses that seemed to indicate that nothing was going on. If a pilot makes a decision with out all the information, that is his problem. Given the homophobic mentality of many in this country, I do not find the story to be unrealistic and assuming it I correct, I stand by my judgment.

 

[Vortilon]

Look at all the politically corrupt come out of the woodwork on this thread. The standard tactics employed, we are victims of homophobia etc.. Why not start another whiner organization like GLEAAM and force fead the employees some more of your BS. Maybe add some more rules resticting breeders. It is so chic to be gay now as the media would have us believe. What are you gonna do now? compare this to Rosa Parks?

Haven't you noticed that your bithin has done nothing more than add more rules and laws that actually prevent free speech and expression. It's gonna bite you in the ass one of these days.

 

[Wretched Wrench]

Finally, the purser said that if they didn’t drop the matter the flight would be diverted.

Maybe an hour later, the purser approached Tsikhiseli and said that the captain wanted to talk to him. Tsikhiseli went up to the galley and gave the captain his business card. The captain told Tsikhiseli that if they didn’t stop arguing with the crew he would indeed divert the plane. “I want you to go back to your seat and behave the rest of the flight, and we’ll see you in New York,â€￾ he said.

I am still in disbelief, here.

Apparently, disagreeing with a cabin crew member is a crime.

We are dealing with serious power trips here.

I can't imagine that the Captain would even entertain the idea of disrupting all those passengers and wasting AA's money over something like that. Never mind legality or even common sense, how much would this cost the company?

 

[Mach85ER]

Wrench,

Did he divert? No.

Did he use the threat to get a passenger to cease and desist? Sounds like he may. Sounds like it worked.

Was the Captain out of line? Don't know for sure. Good passenger behavior is in the eye of the beholder.

It's somewhat amazing the cyber weasels here condemn him or even the FA's without their side of the story. Just sit in any restaurant for awhile and watch what some people consider as perfectly acceptable behavior for themselves.

 

[TWAnr]

It's somewhat amazing the cyber weasels here condemn him or even the FA's without their side of the story.

The original article appeared in the New Yorker. The reporter interviewed several passengers in addition to the two whose conduct offended the sensibilities of the flight crew. The airline was contacted in the process of preparing the story. That was the time to present the crew's version of events. The fact that only a generic denial was provided, instead of a different side of the story, tends to support the conclusion that the events unfolded as reported.

American Airlines is making a huge P.R. mistake. Just Google a few key words from the story and you will see that this news item has been widely reported in the gay press (News Google search results). This is going to lead to loss of business from a segment of the population that has a lot of disposable income. Can American Airlines afford losing these passengers? I think not.

 

[FA Mikey]

Wrench,

Did he divert? No.

Did he use the threat to get a passenger to cease and desist? Sounds like he may. Sounds like it worked.

Was the Captain out of line? Don't know for sure. Good passenger behavior is in the eye of the beholder.

It's somewhat amazing the cyber weasels here condemn him or even the FA's without their side of the story. Just sit in any restaurant for awhile and watch what some people consider as perfectly acceptable behavior for themselves.

No, he didn't divert, he took one side of a ridiculous story and told a customer they were in the wrong.

Good passenger behavior? please, they were doing nothing violent or disruptive anything that warranted that kind of threat of action, except to a couple socially backward crew members. This wasn't a case of someone making out, sitting on someone's lap, the hands down the pants or the always disgusting toilet rendezvous. Which we have all seen and never threatened a diversion for. The crew from Captain on down was completely out of line.

 

[WorldTraveler]

It's hard to know what happened on this flight but I was on another US airline's flight from Paris to the US and two employees (male and female - not husband and wife) of a very large Florida entertainment company got real wound up in business class.

There were complaints from other passengers and the 2 passengers were repeatedly told to restrain themselves in public. They didn't and I was told their employer was notified by radio and a representative met the flight and the expecation was that the two were not deemed to be good representatives of said entertainment company.

No press got involved but the situation was equally as bad if not worse. And the consequence was what it should have been for 2 people who couldn't control themselves for 10 hrs during an afternoon flight. The type of behavior is secondary to the poor image it gave the company - and it was known who these 2 worked for.

 

[Garfield1966]

Wrench,

Did he divert? No.

Did he use the threat to get a passenger to cease and desist? Sounds like he may. Sounds like it worked.

Was the Captain out of line? Don't know for sure. Good passenger behavior is in the eye of the beholder.

It's somewhat amazing the cyber weasels here condemn him or even the FA's without their side of the story. Just sit in any restaurant for awhile and watch what some people consider as perfectly acceptable behavior for themselves.

One would think that if the story were not accurate that someone else involved would have spoken up. So far everything I have read gives AA yet another black eye in the gay community along with the rest of us who would just like to see people treated equally and fairly.

Question. Assuming the story is accurate. What do you think should be done? This is merely a mental exercise. Assuming the story is correct, do you believe sanctions or other punitive measures should be taken?

 

[FA Mikey]

The gay community to AA. Nothing to much will happen. Things like this are bound to happen from time to time. There will always be among us who's short sightdness does a great disservice to there company and to society in general.

AA has a strong brand in the gay community and its sponsorship and advertising will continue to reach and support that market.

 

[Wretched Wrench]

If security is such a concern, why didn't the Captain stay in the cockpit behind the security door?

I am totally behind anything done by flight and cabin crew toward security, but I question the necesssity of their being Hall Monitors.

Geeze, I hold no brief for gays, but their behavior seems a pretty minor issue that was escalated by cabin and cockpit crew that actually compromised security. One could make the case that 9/11 would have played out differently had the cockpit crew stayed behind their locked doors.

 

[eolesen]

1) Having cockpit crew come out of the cockpit is not necessarily a security concern, since there are two pilots, and either one can fly and land the plane if necessary.

2) For all we know, the pilot was told nothing more than that these two guys not following FA instructions.

3) On 9/11, it wouldn't have mattered if the cockpit crew had stayed behind their locked doors, since the flight attendants also had keys to the locks. For all we know, the hijackers may have opened the door from the outside.

 

[Wretched Wrench]

1) Having cockpit crew come out of the cockpit is not necessarily a security concern, since there are two pilots, and either one can fly and land the plane if necessary.

Yes it is indeed a security concern. A pilot in the cabin is easier to overpower than two pilots behind a locked door. The ability of a single pilot to fly the plane is beside the point. But you knew that.

2) For all we know, the pilot was told nothing more than that these two guys not following FA instructions.

"Not following FA instructions" is pretty vague. I would hope that a captain would have a little stronger justification to leave the cockpit than that.

3) On 9/11, it wouldn't have mattered if the cockpit crew had stayed behind their locked doors, since the flight attendants also had keys to the locks. For all we know, the hijackers may have opened the door from the outside.

Good points, but none of us can really say for sure either way. I am not prepared to second guess the 9/11 crews. In the situation under discussion, a locked cockpit door backed up by a couple determined aviators, armed with a fire axe or handguns, has the potential to be safer than an individual pilot in a cabin full of unknowns. It is possible that a potential evildoer would be aware of Caesar's maxim, "divide and conquer". A diversion like "not following instructions of an FA" could be a ploy to separate the cockpit crew.

We have seen the lav corridor fortified/barricaded with food carts so a pilot can use the lav. I wonder if similar defenses were in place for the discussion with the accused sex offender?

Everybody overreacted and as a result security was compromised. I wonder if a Federal Sky Marshal could have been, ah, drawn into this, had there been one aboard.

 

[FA Mikey]

Well put, I think the last thing you should ever do is bring a (small or large )security concern to the front of the palne and closer to the most sensitive area, the cockpit.

 

[Mach85ER]

Wrench,

It was a 3 pilot crew, at least 1 pilot would be on break during most of the flight. I would find it hard to believe that the Captain would come out for a situation like this. Most likely it was combined with a lav or crew break. Passengers have been told to sit down/shut up since the DC-3 days.
Although it's possible that in the case there was the wrong combination of a CA and FA who were disgusted by the lovebirds, I doubt it. Most likely the involvement by the Captain was to end the perceived behavior that he felt might escalate. A small tube at 36,000 feet is no place for a Jerry Springer show.

Well put, I think the last thing you should ever do is bring a (small or large )security concern to the front of the palne and closer to the most sensitive area, the cockpit.

I guess the question might be, in which galley did the Captain speak to lover#1, the one in front of coach or by the cockpit door?

Agreed that problems shouldn't be brought to the cockpit door.

 

[FWAAA]

Although I agree that problems shouldn't generally be brought to the flight deck door, let's remember that we're talking about some kissy-face sissy-boi here. Not very likely to successfully storm the flight deck.