Community Chat

[gertrudecloset]

• American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said Thursday that unruly behavior on planes "has to stop."

• It comes after American said a flight attendant was "physically assaulted" by a passenger on Wednesday.

• The passenger punched the attendant in the face, the association APFA told The Washington Post.

CEO Doug Parker said unruly behavior on planes "has to stop" after a male passenger was accused of punching a female flight attendant in the face.

"We had one of the worst displays of unrul behavior we've ever witnessed," Parker said in a video posted on Instagram on Thursday.

An American Airlines flight was diverted on Wednesday after a male passenger "physically assaulted" a female flight attendant, the carrier told Insider in a statement on Thursday. It said it had banned the passenger from future American flights.

The flight attendant was making her way through the first-class cabin when she bumped the passenger, Julie Hedrick, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), which represents staff who fly for American, told The Washington Post.

Hendrick told The Post that the flight attendant apologized, but that the passenger got up from his seat to confront her. He then punched her in the face, Hendrick said.

The flight attendant was taken to hospital for treatment of broken bones in her face, Hendrick told The Post, adding that the attendant was later released.

The APFA didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on The Post's article.

An American Airlines spokesperson told Insider that the flight attendant was transported to a local hospital, but said the airline couldn't comment any further on her condition, citing privacy reasons.

[sunshine45]

these stories are just so sad......what is wrong with people? i love to fly, i love to travel, but i dont love people who dont treat others with respect and courtesy.

do you think this has been happening a lot BEFORE and we just never heard a lot of it or do you think that more of this is happening now for the past almost two years due to covid issues and concerns about flying?

[gertrudecloset]

(Reuters) -American Airlines said on Saturday it has canceled more than 1,400 flights over the weekend due to staff shortages and unfavorable weather. 

The U.S. airline said it canceled 551 flights on Saturday, 480 flights on Sunday, in addition to 376 flights canceled on Friday. FlightAware, a flight tracking site, said American had also delayed more than 1,000 flights since Friday. 

"With additional weather throughout the system, our staffing begins to run tight as crew members end up out of their regular flight sequences," the airline said in a statement. 

The company said it expected to get through this period of irregular operations soon. 

Heading towards the busy holiday travel season, carriers are working to hire more employees. 

American Airlines said it is increasing its staffing across all operations, with nearly 1,800 flight attendants returning from leave and more than 600 newly hired flight attendants coming on board by the end of December. 

Southwest also said it was hiring aggressively, with the aim of having about 5,000 new employees by the end of this year. 

Earlier this month, Southwest canceled nearly 2,400 flights over a three-day period, blaming unfavorable weather and air traffic issues in Florida. 

[jellyBEAN]

Seems like the friendly skies up and sailed out to the wild blue yonder.  Being a stewardess used to be such a dream job - travel, airline pilots, fun uniforms - seemed so glamorous THEN.

Lets face it, people have changed.  Times have changed.  No longer do people dress up and wear their very best for a flight, nor are they on their good behavior.  It's all about ME ME ME and to heck w/everyone else.  Rules no longer apply.  Punishments for bad behavior no longer exist.  Everything is filmed on camera, no one is living in the present moment - its really sad.  I'm glad I'm not a young person and lived my life when I did. 

(I also think the present health fiasco has a lot to do with people being even more frustrated than usual - but that is no excuse.)

[Kachina624]

All that CEO does is whine about his problems.  It's his job to FIX them.  Apparently his solution is to cancel flights. The cancellations going on now are supposedly partly due to windy weather.  Airplanes don't fly in windy weather?  That's a first.... What's he going to do when snow starts to fly? If I'd been sitting in airports for 2-3 days, I'd be steamed. 

[gertrudecloset]

@Kachina624 I thought I read where you have the flu.  How are you feeling?  Can't be too bad if you're up and about.  That means you might not get it so bad after all.

[Marp]

IMO there is not enough prosecution of these perpetrators.  In addition, when a flight has to be diverted due to an unruly passenger that passenger should have to reimburse the airline for its additional expenses, often in excess of a hundred thousand dollars, and face civil class actions by other passengers due to the disruptions--missed connections, etc.

[QVCkitty1]

These law breakers should be prosecuted to the full extent, there is zero excuse for bad behavior. 

[golding76]

sunshine45,

A very close friend of mine is with the FAA and her assignment for decades has been dealing with these issues of altercations and physical fights in the air.   The airlines she is assigned to are among the famous ones.

THE DEGREE OF OUTRAGEOUS, DANGEROUS BEHAVIOR AND THE NUMBER OF CASES HAVE EXPLODED EXPONENTIALLY THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS.  SHE HAS NEVER EXPERIENCED THIS BEFORE.

Her caseload is huge, and she is going out of her mind processing these cases and trying to get the perpetrators to even respond to letters from FAA, much less bring them to justice.  These people are heedless and, it appears, consider themselves outside the bounds of civil behavior.  They consider themselves special, I guess, and entitled to act out their hostilities and frustrations.   At bottom, these behaviors are those of a three-year-old having a temper tantrum (unless they are drunk or drugged, conditions which exacerbate the fit of bad behavior). 

I haven't asked her, but I am certain she got the latest case of the flight attendant who was assaulted for accidentally bumping into a passenger.  What drug was he on?  

[golding76]

One last thing -- where are the air marshals when you need them?  The best guess is that, because of COVID-19, they cannot be forced to do their duty on an airplane since the possibility of contagion is higher there.

Their presence and assistance would certainly mitigate this outbreak of absurd and dangerous behavior.  

Perhaps when federal workers are instructed to return to their offices, the air marshals will go back on flights.  One can only hope.