Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

upgrd.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 243 posts

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#171

Post by tokenadult »

DoubleCluster wrote: post #17

Never ever directly accuse someone of lying. Mostly because it's usually a communication problem where they said it unclear and your heard it wrong. Also because you should always give someone a way out without losing too much face. I would have said something like: Sorry if I gave the impression of not cooperating, but I can assure you I did not and will not take any more pictures this flight. It would mean a lot to…

Never ever directly accuse someone of lying. Mostly because it's usually a communication problem where they said it unclear and your heard it wrong.

This is generally helpful advice in many life contexts. I wish Elon Musk had followed it recently.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#172

Post by l33tbro »

redmondbarry wrote: post #144

Meh. Passenger demonstrates willingness to a) revisit the incident later and b) use the word 'terrorist' on the plane. They don't have to actually think he'll blow up the plane; it only takes one closet nut case to overhear this and cause a ruckus mid flight. In a small confined space at 30k feet that's a very real safety issue. Consider that an irrational fear of flying isn't that uncommon, and this is a route where…

Still unacceptable on behalf of United. Using the word "terrorist" was unnecessary and downright unwise, but the fact remains that, regardless of post 9/11 context, it's just a damn word. May it heighten the senses of a potential fear-of-flying person? Perhaps. But by that logic, you would also say that anybody wearing a turban would have to remove it, for fear of triggering one of these people.

And, yes, United are under obligation to tell this passenger the real reason for booting them off. They are a business. He is their a loyal customer with almost 1,000,000 ffms. He conducted himself, according to his entry, calmly and in a very transparent manner. The behavior of the stuff was disgusting, humiliating and unprofessional.

If this seems okay to you; fine. But this is not the world I want to live in.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#173

Post by jfoster »

Tips for air travel: 1. Don't bring up terrorism or bombs. 2. If a disagreement with anyone arises and is settled, don't bring it up again. 3. Be polite and humble, particularly whilst on the actual plane. 4. Do not accuse anyone of lying. It's confrontational and leads to conflict. Instead assume miscommunication, apologize & clarify. 5. Don't accuse anyone of threatening you. It's confrontational and leads to conflict. Instead assume miscommunication, apologize & clarify.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#174

Post by wereHamster »

frinxor wrote: post #99
pudquick wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When a cop pulls you over because there was a kidnapping a year ago, you do not end up in jail for making the claim "Don't worry, I'm not a kidnapper" No, but you'll get a more thorough check of your car (trunk and backseat), plus a more in-depth check of your car's plates and your ID - because you just made a seemingly unrelated statement about a horrible thing (kidnapping) when the cop pulled you over for somethi…

not sure if i made my original point correctly. putting away the camera is entirely related to terrorism, which is why its perfectly reasonable to respond with "I am not a terrorist" (taking pictures of the plane for future blowing-up operations)

Next time a cop pulls me over I'll tell him: "I'm not a turtle". Or "I'm not lightbulb". Or this: "I'm not a tea leaf". And hope they are not looking for an escaped turtle, a lost lightbulb or a tea leaf that jumped out of a tea cup.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#175

Post by hakaaaaak »

biot wrote: post #163

My take on this: "Naturally, the FA's warning bothered me and I felt the need to explain myself." Why? The only appropriate response to being informed that you are not permitted to take pictures in a non-public space is "I understand" or simply "Okay". No explanation is necessary as it won't change the rule that the flight attendant is likely obligated to enforce. However, the author feels compelled to justify himsel…

If this guy got kicked off a flight for taking a single picture with his iPhone, and he did not cause any other problems, then he deserves to be able to post what he did, and United deserves to be scolded for its ridiculous policies that its pilot and GS dutifully followed. A service mentality is needed.

It reminds me of an experience I had recently at Best Buy. I bought an item and immediately after paying for it, before picking it up off the sales counter, I noticed that the end of the box had been untaped and opened, so I asked if I could exchange it for another. The cashier said, "I'm sorry but you'll have to exchange it at the service desk." I argued and was able to exchange it, but was flabbergasted.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#176

Post by jfoster »

droithomme wrote: post #31
javajosh wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, there are like 9 comments right now (12:54am PST) and literally none of them support the airline. What are you talking about?

All the "Well he shouldn't have used the T word" when he explained that he was taking the photos as part of his travel review job. There were no faults in the way he handled it. The airline was completely to blame, severely inconvenienced him, falsely accused him, and cost him money. Outrageous behavior against any passenger. That he is a 950,000 mile traveler on the airline and often writes articles recommending the…

He doesn't mention the other passenger who took photos getting booted from the plane. This suggests it was his reaction rather than the taking of photos that saw him left behind.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#177

Post by vacri »

biot wrote: post #163

My take on this: "Naturally, the FA's warning bothered me and I felt the need to explain myself." Why? The only appropriate response to being informed that you are not permitted to take pictures in a non-public space is "I understand" or simply "Okay". No explanation is necessary as it won't change the rule that the flight attendant is likely obligated to enforce. However, the author feels compelled to justify himsel…

It's a good lesson for him to learn - when someone is between you and what you want, it's probably not going to help if you call them a liar.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#178

Post by znowi »

Well, as I see it, the guy wanted to wave the fact that he is a "semi-famous writer on the subject of air travel" for whatever reason. Apparently, the captain didn't like this attitude, which does not excuse him for kicking the guy out, but I can see why he might have done it.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#179

Post by pbhjpbhj »

icambron wrote: post #133
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.

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 every…

>"It's like people value obedience of arbitrary impositions of authority as the highest virtue." //

That is just about the greatest virtue in the context of being in a confined space with someone in a relatively flimsy metal tube jetting over the ocean (or wherever). One is already trusting the captain + crew with your life to a large extent.

>"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" //

My take is that the FA flagged the subject's behaviour as suspicious [or at least potentially problematic] and the photography was used as the excuse to oust the passenger without troubling the rest of the people onboard with mention of "terrorism" or making potentially slanderous remarks about the general character of the subject.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#180

Post by DanBC »

Anechoic wrote: post #167
Terretta wrote: post #164

No other comments in this thread make this point, so I'll bring it up. While the passenger should not have been booted off, he was absolutely in the wrong but only based on what he told the crew . Here is the photo policy: http://cdn-img1.upgrd.com/featured/united-photo-limits.png It says photography is strictly prohibited of aircraft equipment, and if not of aircraft equipment, prohibited unless of "personal events"…

In their shoes, I'd point out that by his own explanation, he was wilfully breaking the rules. He took one picture when he was unaware of the rule. Once informed of the rule, he immediately stopped. How is that "willfuly breaking the rules"?

He didn't say anything to indicate that he would stop taking photos.

He then went on to say that he always took photos on United flights and never had a problem.

Post reply on HN