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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

#211

Post by vidarh »

easytiger wrote: post #98
batgaijin wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, saying "I'm not a terrorist" is kind of a line I'd expect to hear to in a tv show or something. Do you tell the cop "Don't worry, I'm not a kidnapper"?

Well when you enter the USA under the visa waiver scheme you sign a document that asks you many stupid questions, one of which is are you a terrorist.

I love that form. No, I've not committed genocide lately, nor am I entering with the intent of setting myself up as a drug lord... Maybe some light murder and mayhem, though, if I feel bored or the hotel isn't up to scratch.

(for the curious who haven't travelled on the visa waiver program: http://www.usvisalawyers.co.uk/article6add1.htm )

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#212

Post by vidarh »

dagw wrote: post #69
trustfundbaby wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 me if I could stay on the plane ----- feels a bit too servile for me, especially if I felt I didn't do anything wrong in the first place.

What's wrong with acting a bit servile once in a while if makes people around you happy and leads to them doing what you want? Being nice and polite to people isn't a sign of weakness.

Being nice and polite to people in the hope that maybe they will stop abusing their power over you is a sign of weakness.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#213

Post by Zealot »

jemfinch wrote: post #56
droithomme wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

No one's taking the airline's side here, but he shouldn't have brought up terrorism. That was a mistake in judgment on his part, as I explained elsewhere. The irony here is that you're demonstrating the same sort of knee-jerk misinterpretation that arises when people say "terrorism" on an airplane.

> shouldn't have brought up terrorism

Word mightier than sword

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#214

Post by Zealot »

bambax wrote: post #169

> maybe I should never used the word terrorist in my explanation That's obviously the problem. When I read he said he wasn't a terrorist I thought "uh-oh, this isn't going to end well". The US have this very strange custom of having "forbidden words" -- words that can't be said on TV and/or words that can't be said in an ordinary conversation. Those words are alluded-to with their initial: F-word, S-word, N-word, etc…

Pretty soon we will be able to make a song out of that list.

Now I know my ABCs,

Next time won't you sing with me.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#215

Post by fluidcruft »

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…

Really? To me at it sounded like he explicitly announced he was someone that United corporate feels the need to monitor. There are a number of valid ways to interpret that. If I walked on a plane and said "Hello! I'm someone the big wigs at United corporate monitors closely!", I'd expect to get tossed.

I'm getting very tired of blogger-entitlement-syndrome. "I'm important on the internet! Respect my authoritah!"

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#217

Post by jrockway »

binxbolling wrote: post #216

Forget this story: I was more bothered by the blog post on this site that unapologetically mocks people with service dogs. http://upgrd.com/blogs/cloudcommuting/this-is-my-emotional-s...

Yes, that does sound pretty ignorant:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_support_animal

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#218

Post by vidarh »

mmcnickle wrote: post #120
jemfinch wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author contracted carriage in exchange for money, and the captain refused to honor that contract. The author was a victim. The captain was an aggressor. Those are facts, not opinions, and they're not manipulative. It's your prerogative to resent them, but they remain facts. It's interesting that you seem to be claiming the captain wasn't an aggressor, but then believe that giving his name to his actions would be…

And the terms and conditions of said contract would state that the captain has the absolute right to remove anyone from the flight. Edit: Reference. RULE 21 REFUSAL TO TRANSPORT in United's Contract of Carriage [1] outlines UA's right to "remove from the aircraft at any point, any Passenger for the following reasons". The reasons are, as you would expect, broad and vague, essentially giving UA cover to remove anyone…

I'm sure they would cite it. That doesn't make it right, nor does it make him any less of a victim.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#219

Post by vidarh »

hermannj314 wrote: post #73
UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you talking about? The coat closet is at the front of the aircraft. You aren't really allowed to just go rummage through it yourself. So you ask the FA to put your coat in there or to retrieve it.

Ok, as a guy that only flies coach I thought "hanging your coat" means putting it on the little peg that pops out on the back of the seat in front of you / putting it in the overhead bin. I was mistaken. I didn't realize coats at the front of the plane were treated so much better than the rest of the coats. :-)

They'll also memorize your name and make sure to use it regularly when addressing you. And you get metal cutlery instead of plastic. And the nuts are heated, and served in a little cup instead of in a plastic bag.

(Never paid for business, but United is ludicrously easy to get upgrades on if you fly trans-atlantic flights with any frequency and pay attention to ordering correctly coded tickets)

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#220

Post by mindcrime »

vidarh wrote: post #209
mootothemax wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't imagine any criteria under which the handling of this situation could be considered a "success" Not even the bit I wrote in the previous sentence? To clarify: "the author went off the plane calmly and without making a scene ".

... a long time, major customer left pissed off. Nope, not seeing how it can be considered a success. With a reasonable flight attendant there's no reason to consider that there might have been a risk of anything but a calm flight in the first place, so having him leave calmly is not success. I've never had anything but good experiences with United through a couple of hundred thousand miles of flights (London SFO reg…

... a long time, major customer left pissed off. Nope, not seeing how it can be considered a success.

Not only that, but a customer who writes a travel blog which appears to be fairly widely read (judging just by the number of comments on the original blog post) and who clearly knows how to use social media to get his story out.

This whole thing is a huge black-eye for United from what I can see.

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