Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures • Hacker News Board

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#11

Post by PavlovsCat » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 8:49 AM UTC

ck2 wrote: post #7

Not that it's an excuse for what they did but why the hell would you suddenly spout "I am not a terrorist" when no-one has even implied as such. Yeah that's helpful to calming strangers in any situation, just suddenly say that without any reason.

why the hell would you suddenly spout "I am not a terrorist" when no-one has even implied as such.

Because if you can't do that, what's even left for terrorists to destroy? And how is lying, claiming he took more pictures, an appropriate response? How can you possibly rationalize this to be the fault of the OP? As a comment to that story points out, that's a big part of how society got to such a low point.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#12

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 8:52 AM UTC

Dylan16807 wrote: post #6

jchavannes wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was going to say the same thing. This seems more like the reason, and it would make sense why they would not claim this was the reason as well, since they don't want the word mentioned again among other passengers.

Using the wrong word is an even more disgusting reason to throw someone off.

[deleted]

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#13

Post by jrockway » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 8:53 AM UTC

adrianmsmith wrote: post #9

Why did they throw him off then put him on another flight? I mean either he was a danger (= should be thrown off original flight, but should not be allowed to endanger other flights either), or he wasn't a danger (= could fly on the original flight).

They never used danger as a reason. The captain can kick anyone off the plane for any reason or no reason. He chose to and will accept whatever the consequences are. (But remember: it's a union job, so there aren't going to be consequences.)

I estimate the author will get 50,000 frequent flyer miles and an apology. Seems to be the standard procedure when the central office wants to make up for poor customer service on the line.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#14

Post by javajosh » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 8:55 AM UTC

droithomme wrote: post #10

It's a bit disturbing and amazing to see so many people here taking the airline's side in this. No wonder things are the way they are - the general public supports it.

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

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#15

Post by sdoering » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 8:55 AM UTC

Sorry, what I do not get is, that this person describes something, he claims clearly troubled him. He was wronged (by his account) by UA. He even had to buy a new ticket on his own account to have a connection-flight.

So what I do not get is, why is he not holding UA responsible for the lost money, lost time and his trouble. Is he such a big fanboy, that he does not want to cost his big love some (by his account) well deserved money?

Or might it just be, that there are some other aspects to his story, not told in the written blog post? His tone of voice, while talking to the FA? Was he calm, might he come about as being aggressive? What was his body language? Might she have felt threatened.

Maybe he is right in his point of view - but maybe - and just maybe, he acted from a position of blogger-power, taking his blogger-influence for granted and letting this show.

I know, that this is just me speculating, but I haven't been there and did not hear anything from the other side of the story. But reading the comments here and in the blog, UA is guilty until proven innocent, or so it seems.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#16

Post by 10dpd » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 8:56 AM UTC

Two issues: 1. 'Terrorist' seems to be a keyword that will get you into a lot of trouble if uttered in the vicinity of an airport. 2. Why not provide evidence of the truth there and then? Show your camera photo roll containing the one photo, and then you have a solid case. Otherwise, we have to consider that perhaps more than one photo was taken, it is a "your word" against "their word" scenario.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#17

Post by DoubleCluster » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 8:56 AM UTC

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 me if I could stay on the plane.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#18

Post by trustfundbaby » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 8:56 AM UTC

PavlovsCat wrote: post #11

ck2 wrote: post #7

Not that it's an excuse for what they did but why the hell would you suddenly spout "I am not a terrorist" when no-one has even implied as such. Yeah that's helpful to calming strangers in any situation, just suddenly say that without any reason.

why the hell would you suddenly spout "I am not a terrorist" when no-one has even implied as such. Because if you can't do that, what's even left for terrorists to destroy? And how is lying, claiming he took more pictures, an appropriate response? How can you possibly rationalize this to be the fault of the OP? As a comment to that story points out, that's a big part of how society got to such a low point.

why the hell would you suddenly spout "I am not a terrorist" when no-one has even implied as such

----------------

Why would it freak someone out, when no terrorist (to my knowledge) has ever declared "I'm not a terrorist" ... right before hijacking a plane?

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#19

Post by jrockway » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 8:57 AM UTC

ck2 wrote: post #7

Not that it's an excuse for what they did but why the hell would you suddenly spout "I am not a terrorist" when no-one has even implied as such. Yeah that's helpful to calming strangers in any situation, just suddenly say that without any reason.

It's an idiomatic English response to an accusation regarding picture taking. I bet if you walked up to 1000 native speakers of English and asked them to stop taking pictures, more than 10% would say exactly this.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#20

Post by avel » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 8:57 AM UTC

Dylan16807 wrote: post #6

jchavannes wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was going to say the same thing. This seems more like the reason, and it would make sense why they would not claim this was the reason as well, since they don't want the word mentioned again among other passengers.

Using the wrong word is an even more disgusting reason to throw someone off.

"Hey guys, come on, don't throw me out. It's not like I said that I have a bomb!"