

Travel Writer Booted Off United Flight for Taking Picture of His Seat - rosser
http://upgrd.com/matthew/thrown-off-a-united-airlines-flight-for-taking-pictures.html

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randomdrake
>"I want you to understand why I was taking pictures. _I hope you didn't think
I was a terrorist._ Here is my business card [offering her one]. I write about
United Airlines on an almost-daily basis and the folks at United in Chicago
are even aware of my blog."

(emphasis added)

Reacting to a command given by a flight attendant with anything along the
lines of "Whoa, sorry. I hope you don't think I'm a terrorist," is a terrible
decision. Even if you're not, saying it will immediately make them wonder if
you are.

Don't think of a pink elephant. How's that mental image of a pink elephant
looking?

Terrorist. Bomb. Threat. 9/11. These are things you don't go saying on
airplanes, these days, unless you're expecting some sort of discomfort from
anyone within earshot. This is especially true for someone in charge of
ensuring the safety of people aboard the flight.

I don't think the traveler would have been removed from the plane if they
would have just complied and not mentioned such a charged word.

~~~
ryguytilidie
I mean, this is the problem right here. You're claiming that because a plane
ran into a building 12 years ago, it actually makes sense for an American
citizen to kick another American citizen off a plane while lying about it. How
about we get back to being rational sensible human beings who understand
context and can have a thought process beyond "If I hear the word terrorist,
that person is a terrorist and I need to call homeland security"
/roboticthinking

I get that it is a bad idea to say terrorist on a plane, but if after 12
years, we still are unable to understand context here, people should be
getting fired, especially if they need to lie to justify their bizarre, made
up fears.

~~~
randomdrake
>You're claiming that because a plane ran into a building 12 years ago, it
actually makes sense for an American citizen to kick another American citizen
off a plane while lying about it.

No, I'm not. I'm claiming that there are words that shouldn't be said on a
plane anymore. A building exploding didn't do that. Decisions from
organizations and individuals created the catalyst for that change. But,
that's a completely different discussion.

It's common knowledge whether it's okay or not. I agree: we as a society,
should strive to be more open and accepting about using words. But,
unfortunately, we're not all there yet.

The title is sensationalist and misleading. The photo taking clearly wasn't
the problem because the author wasn't removed from the plane after taking the
photo, they were removed after they said something they shouldn't have.

"Travel Author Irritated After Being Kicked Off a Plane for Claiming 'Not a
Terrorist'" is hardly a story, is it?

~~~
Amadou
Except that, according to the author, he was accused of refusing to stop
taking pictures. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, it seems reasonable for
him to critise the airline based on their words, even if he suspects their
words are not truthful.

~~~
ryguytilidie
Not even just according to the author. According to the official reason the
airline gave him. I can certainly understand why one might suspect this isn't
the real reason, but calling the guy sensationalist for repeating EXACTLY what
he was told is pretty insane imo.

------
ryguytilidie
The fact that we got attacked by a few Saudi nationals 12 years ago makes one
American lie to another American because shes scared an American passenger on
their plane is a terrorist because he said the word terrorist. Is it really
debatable whether we did exactly what the terrorists hoped we would do at this
point? I don't want to say they won, because its not a game and no one wins,
but they certainly accomplished some objectives here if this is the way people
are allowed to act.

~~~
rdtsc
Or in this case apparently it turns flying attendants into power tripping
liars.

------
codenerdz
Same article 16 hours and 200+ comments ago

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5256051>

------
plaguuuuuu
I give this blog post Autism/10

Flight attendant's perspective was that she is routinely telling passengers to
quit with the happy snaps, as required by company policy. Flight attendant is
tired and very busy with getting the plane together for takeoff. The photo guy
from before is suddenly angrily motioning her over and saying a bunch of crazy
shit about not being a terrorist, and trying to make her take/keep his
business card. flight attendant freaks out and runs to her boss.

Crew boss sees really freaked out flight attendant and assumes the passenger
needs to go. Once that decision is made, crazy travel guy probably doesn't
have any hope of reversing it.

The real issue is that the guy grossly messed up his interaction with the
flight attendant and paid the price for it. If you misbehave on a flight
you're gonna get kicked off - yes, airlines have a duty to have fair rules for
customers to follow. But passengers have a duty to act relatively normally in
their standard human interactions with staff.

Trying to air one's grievances with an airline's cabin policies with a flight
attendant is ridiculous anyway, hence my rating out of 10.

------
JulianWasTaken
This sounds dubious. It's obviously one sided which is OK, but what exactly is
the motivation of a flight attendant to flat out lie about continuing to take
pictures. And why wait to do it while continuing to service other passengers.

------
chrisbennet
Even if the travel writer had done something horrible this is going to give
United a big black mark. I guess he'll record his future interactions with
cabin steward/stewardess'.

~~~
nthj
I'm just curious who already had a good feeling about United. I mean, I fly
Delta/United/America when I have to, but I've been pretty annoyed by all 3 for
years.

I don't really see anything changing from this article.

~~~
acheron
I'm reasonably happy with United out of the big airlines. They almost always
have seats with extra leg room, and they have a hub at the airport that's 10
minutes from my house.

I mean, they're still an airline, and I've had problems, but overall they
haven't been bad to me.

------
JulianMorrison
You poked the bear and, because you're white and rich, you got growled at
instead of bitten. Pardon me if I do not feel sympathy for this "elite status"
privileged whine.

~~~
Amadou
Social change (without revolution) doesn't come until enough of the already
empowered embrace it. So it may seem trivial to those of us that have seen far
worse, but the alternative is for the white and rich to never hear about the
problems that have affected one of their own. Since most people only recognize
a problem when they are personally at risk, this sort of "whine" is a
necessary part of the process.

------
cup
Without any information from the airline hostess, captain or company this
paints a very one sided and incomplete picture. The authors account might be
accurate however I'm inclined to think that it may have more to do with the
fact that he uttered the word 'terrorist' rather than any of his other
actions.

I mean most seasoned travellers, let alone someone in the industry, should
know by now that when you're in an airport you jump through all the hoops
regardless of how stupid they may appear simply because airports and airlines
hold power over you. For better or worse free speech does not exist in this
environment and I wonder whether the author should have just apoligised and
swallowed his pride rather than try to make a point or even apologise. Some
times you just need to bite your tongue.

Edit: I'm curious about why people disagree with me.

