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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

#81

Post by beedogs »

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.

...which is still a fucking terrible reason.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#82

Post by andrewfelix »

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.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#83

Post by UnoriginalGuy »

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.

I still don't understand why using the word "terrorist" is a no-no. It is a word. Context matters. Context in this case would suggest there was nothing to worry about.

I swear sometimes it is like the whole world is a slightly mentally handicapped child who, upon hearing a bad word, starts repeating it getting more and more upset.

I guess being adults and thinking things through is too much to ask from your average full grown adult?

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#84

Post by PavlovsCat »

jemfinch wrote: post #47
PavlovsCat wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 attenda…

How is that an analogy? Try this one.

There is a guest at my house, and I have a rule that nobody is allowed to take screwdrivers to the bathroom, because, as all my neighbours know, I am paranoid about people watching me as I take a crap (even though I have telescopes on the roof of my house pointing in all directions, and none of them into the sky; but that's a story for another day). So this guy walks towards the bathroom, and I see he has a screwdriver in his hand; I stop him, ask him to leave the screwdriver, which he does.

I make no further attempts to assure him I know he's not going to install a camera, or to be friendly or a human or something like that; I just bark my orders and waddle off. So after he finished his business, and because he's expecting to be over for a few hours and wants to clear the air, he walks up to me and says "About the screwdriver.. I didn't install a camera or anything, I just like to play drums on my knees while I poop. But I managed fine without it, so we're cool, right?"

I smily emptily, say, it's okay, waddle away... and then call the cops. Then I lie to them and say he took a screwdriver to the bathroom even after asked him not to, and onlookers actually turn my guest reacting to my pre-existing suspicion of them installing a camera in my bathroom into my guest raising that suspicion in the first place. The last part just boggles my mind.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#85

Post by kalms »

jemfinch wrote: post #47
PavlovsCat wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 attenda…

That is not the same. He wants to fend off a personal stigma. Saying: "There isn't a bomb in my bag, if you must know. Here's my coat", that would be more in line with your analogy.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#86

Post by maurits »

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…

>When you add all of this up, especially when a flight is trying to get out of the gate on time, the pilot is going to err on the side of caution and kick you off the plane.

That makes no sense to me because they off load the baggage from the hold of passengers who are not actually on the plane. A security measure that actually makes sense.

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#88

Post by UnoriginalGuy »

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. :-)

Everything is better at the front of the aircraft (except the toilets for some inexplicable reason).

Re: Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures

#89

Post by mcantelon »

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've turned what should have been an uneventful flight into a situation where tension can only increase before you've even left the ground.

Basically, one has to be mindful not to use words that will cause people too stupid to parse the context in which they were used to be anxious.

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