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Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

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Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#131

Post by jrockway »

guruz wrote: post #105
jrockway wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are 30,000 flights a day in the US with an average of 100 passengers each. This happening to one blogger is not exactly a pattern of paranoia. It was simply two people making a bad customer service decision.

I would agree with you, it could have been that. It's just that for me as an European seemingly all crazy stories like "X tazed by cop for doing nothing at all" or "Y put into jail for having her small children play naked in the garden" come from the US.

According to [1], there are 500,000,000 English speakers on the Internet. There are 300,000,000 English speakers in the US. It stands to reason that most everything you read about in English on the Internet took place in the US. It's just a really really big country.

[1] http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#132

Post by intenex »

pudquick wrote: post #62

Yes, it's unfortunate that the flight attendant lied in this situation. However, it would have been impossible for the pilot to verify this - even if the author showed him the camera. Since the author was willing to 'prove' it, it had to be a digital camera - which the author could have very easily used the built-in delete function to remove all photos but one (or be a sneaky terrorist and swap SD cards). In addition…

Except, as others have pointed out, it wasn't odd at all. It's actually an idiom and an absolutely common response in a photographic context. http://goo.gl/CnV1s

Moreover, it was probably just so incredulous to the blogger that there would be any chance at all that anyone would imagine he'd be a terrorist because he was taking pictures of the little monitor in the seat in front of him that it didn't even cross his mind that it could possibly be taken in that context.

(slight tangent) Reminds me of this one time I mentioned nirvana in a school essay (not even the band, the actual word itself) and the teacher reported me to a counselor as a possible suicide threat in reference to Kurt Cobain. I didn't even know who Kurt Cobain was. This was in like 9th grade. WTF?

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#133

Post by icambron »

andrewfelix wrote: post #82
pudquick wrote: post #62

Yes, it's unfortunate that the flight attendant lied in this situation. However, it would have been impossible for the pilot to verify this - even if the author showed him the camera. Since the author was willing to 'prove' it, it had to be a digital camera - which the author could have very easily used the built-in delete function to remove all photos but one (or be a sneaky terrorist and swap SD cards). In addition…

Absolutely agree. The guy acted arrogant and entitled and attempted to argue with the Captain. There was a very simple solution to this situation; Suck it up, swallow your pride and apologise, whether you were in the wrong or not. If he had been humble about it, he very likely would have been able to stay on the flight.

This is a really terrible attitude. Apparently, airplanes are this magical place where you're not supposed to be treated like a human being. By "acting entitled", you seem to mean "acting like he's entitled to fly on the plane he bought a ticket for". And of course he argued with the captain; he was being kicked off the plane for taking a picture! It's not arrogant to expect to be treated well.

This thing where everyone shouts down someone who stand up for themselves, even when they admit that person is right is really awful. It's like people value obedience of arbitrary impositions of authority as the highest virtue.

Here's where the guy loses me in the article: he blames the FA exclusively, as if it would be reasonable to kick someone off a plane even if he had continued to take a picture after she told him not to (why is she running around demanding that people not take pictures?). In fact, he's crazy to have been loyal to the airline company in the first place and his surprise at the lack of reciprocation is baffling.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#134

Post by PavlovsCat »

jrockway wrote: post #123
PavlovsCat wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is acting submissive to control someone else really being submissive? That's not "control", that's "hoping to influence". And yes, it's being submissive.

Person A has something you want. You do something. Person A gives you the thing you want. You win, because now you have the thing you want instead of Person A.

Person A has the authority to license use of something you want. You do something you do not want (tell an untruth, say "thanks" after being slapped, that sort of thing), but that Person A wants. Person A gives you said license, this time. The next time, you'll have to do the trick again, or no license. Instead of getting closer to issuing the license of use yourself, you actually cement yourself into the skinner box.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#135

Post by andrewfelix »

tankenmate wrote: post #92
andrewfelix wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely agree. The guy acted arrogant and entitled and attempted to argue with the Captain. There was a very simple solution to this situation; Suck it up, swallow your pride and apologise, whether you were in the wrong or not. If he had been humble about it, he very likely would have been able to stay on the flight.

I doubt the bit about being humble means they might let you stay on the plane. The decision process is a one way process, once you cross the line there is no going back; or in the words of De Niro "If there's doubt then there is no doubt".

I can only speak from experience. In the past when I've been caught doing something illegal or improper, I've been let off by being respectful and apologetic.

Courtesy, respect and humility goes a long way.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#136

Post by thirsteh »

mcantelon wrote: post #113
ghshephard wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The instant he said that to the FA, he was off. It's like using the "B" word with the TSA. If you say it, expect to be taken to a room for a nice 20 minute conversation with various security officials. And there is no "room" on an airplane, you're off if you behave like this guy.

>The instant he said that to the FA, he was off. It's like using the "B" word with the TSA They should be transparent about which words are forbidden and put that in their policy like they put the restrictions on photography.

or, you know, just have some common sense, perhaps particularly on United and American Airlines flights.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to rape you" is not something you suddenly exclaim for no reason while walking behind someone in a dark alley who's nervously looking back over their shoulder.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#137

Post by gokhan »

pudquick wrote: post #62

Yes, it's unfortunate that the flight attendant lied in this situation. However, it would have been impossible for the pilot to verify this - even if the author showed him the camera. Since the author was willing to 'prove' it, it had to be a digital camera - which the author could have very easily used the built-in delete function to remove all photos but one (or be a sneaky terrorist and swap SD cards). In addition…

They could easily verify him. He "accrued nearly 950,000 lifetime flight miles with United" and had been upgraded to business class. You normally don't kick customers out because they take pictures of the seats, this is BS, staff could invent lots of ways to ease this situation if they wanted to, but post 9/11 defacto standard for flight personnel is they can do this kind of silly things and get away with it in the name of security.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#138

Post by guruz »

jrockway wrote: post #131
guruz wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would agree with you, it could have been that. It's just that for me as an European seemingly all crazy stories like "X tazed by cop for doing nothing at all" or "Y put into jail for having her small children play naked in the garden" come from the US.

According to [1], there are 500,000,000 English speakers on the Internet. There are 300,000,000 English speakers in the US. It stands to reason that most everything you read about in English on the Internet took place in the US. It's just a really really big country. [1] http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm

I also get my information in German from an Offline newspaper or the German websites.

Or to back my claims up, let's take some per-capita numbers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Incarceration_rates_worldw...

Sorry if this comes across as arrogant.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#139

Post by mistercow »

andrewfelix wrote: post #82
pudquick wrote: post #62

Yes, it's unfortunate that the flight attendant lied in this situation. However, it would have been impossible for the pilot to verify this - even if the author showed him the camera. Since the author was willing to 'prove' it, it had to be a digital camera - which the author could have very easily used the built-in delete function to remove all photos but one (or be a sneaky terrorist and swap SD cards). In addition…

Absolutely agree. The guy acted arrogant and entitled and attempted to argue with the Captain. There was a very simple solution to this situation; Suck it up, swallow your pride and apologise, whether you were in the wrong or not. If he had been humble about it, he very likely would have been able to stay on the flight.

Maybe if fewer people were "humble" and stopped "swallowing their pride" in this ridiculous climate of fear we've established at airports and on planes, we could make some headway in getting rid of it. Expecting people to be polite is fine (and as far as we know, the author was polite). Expecting them to surrender their dignity is not.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#140

Post by jimzvz »

mootothemax wrote: post #102
pudquick wrote: post #62

Yes, it's unfortunate that the flight attendant lied in this situation. However, it would have been impossible for the pilot to verify this - even if the author showed him the camera. Since the author was willing to 'prove' it, it had to be a digital camera - which the author could have very easily used the built-in delete function to remove all photos but one (or be a sneaky terrorist and swap SD cards). In addition…

You were not kicked off for taking pictures. You were kicked off for acting odd. Exactly. It's a long-haul flight, you might have a grudge against the flight attendant, you've already behaved slightly oddly - thinking it appropriate to say "I hope you didn't think I was a terrorist" is odd - and there are so many ways the flight could become a nightmare for all concerned, all thanks to you remaining on the plane. May…

>The author's disappointment aside, it sounds like a success to me.

I can't imagine any criteria under which the handling of this situation could be considered a "success" and it scares me that individuals, not directly involved, could see it as such.

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