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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

#41

Post by tbrake »

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.

Though it wasn't described in the post, I think how the line was delivered would matter - unblinking eye contact with negative body language? probably bad. Half smile with a little incredulity and palms up? better.

Although, if you're trying to allay fears or play down your own 'threat', it probably helps to work your way up to terrorist through a series of denying smaller dangers instead of jumping straight to terrorist.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#42

Post by nwh »

Not in the same league, but I've been escorted out of a train station of taking a photo of a piece of signage too. The electronic sign in question had condensed a station name to something mildly profane, which I considered amusing enough to take a photo of.

The justification given that I could have been planning a terrorist attack, so it was regarded as suspicious behaviour.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#43

Post by varjag »

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.

Because this is a canned response. They even sell T-shirts.

http://goo.gl/CnV1s

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#44

Post by lutusp »

jemfinch wrote: post #27

Captain: I don't have any, but United will have no trouble finding me. My name is...[removed]. Why do victims protect their aggressors in this way? The captain made a wrongheaded decision, and he should at the very least have his name attached to it.

> Why do victims protect their aggressors in this way?

Legal liability. The author could be sued for defamation of character if any of the details are wrong, or in the case that a truthful account emphasizes negatives over positives, something called "false light". Some readers may find this hard to believe, but it's true:

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

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#45

Post by hmexx »

trustfundbaby wrote: post #22
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…

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.

Best of both worlds alternative:

Act like DoubleCluster suggests before the plane takes off...

... on landing, once most people have evacuated, take them aside and unload your full fury upon them!

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#46

Post by oellegaard »

ghshephard wrote: post #25
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.

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.

Sorry, what is the "B" word?

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#47

Post by jemfinch »

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.

Because if you can't do that, what's even left for terrorists to destroy?

Oh please. Imagine you have a guest at your house who asks to use the bathroom. You reply, "Yes, it's the second door on the left, and I haven't installed any recording devices in it." Would you seriously be surprised at your guest's sudden unease while relieving himself?

No one's saying that this is the OP's fault, but telling a flight attendant "I'm not a terrorist" is like saying, "Use my bathroom, I didn't install any cameras in it." Proffering information of that kind is just plain suspicious in itself.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#48

Post by adorable »

jemfinch wrote: post #27

Captain: I don't have any, but United will have no trouble finding me. My name is...[removed]. Why do victims protect their aggressors in this way? The captain made a wrongheaded decision, and he should at the very least have his name attached to it.

I wouldn't say the captain is an "aggressor". He made a bad decision, probably due to incomplete or wrong information he was given. So this is not entirely his fault, he shouldn't take 100% of the blame, and he deserves to have his name hidden.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#49

Post by hermannj314 »

Naturally, the FA's warning bothered me and I felt the need to explain myself. I signaled for her to come back and asked her to hang my coat.

What's with the need to exercise control over another human being like that? Hang up your own coat. The fact that he feels entitled to such service says something about him. People that bark orders at flight attendants probably feel that are part of some untouchable/infallible class of citizen. It makes me suspect his retelling of the facts has been greatly marred by his feelings of superiority in the situation.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#50

Post by pragma »

oellegaard wrote: post #46
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.

Sorry, what is the "B" word?

omb.
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