On November 9, a passenger flying United Airlines from Newark to Charleston faced a three-hour delay at the airport, followed by about 90 minutes on the tarmac. And then – when the captain announced they were 30th in line for takeoff, with another hour and a half wait ahead – decided she just wasn’t going to take it anymore.
This was during the scaleback in flights as air traffic controllers no showed work while not getting back as a result of the government shutdown.
Video begins with two women in one row quietly getting up and being escorted down the aisle by crew. They’re calm. They comply. Then the camera pans back to the window seat. The third woman in the row stands up into the aisle just as a flight attendant is walking past. The crewmember stops for a moment. And the passenger declares.
I’m getting up. I’m allowed to stand up. When you keep us on the tarmac for an hour, I’m allowed to stand up. Not a problem. No, not a problem at all. Really not a problem for me to want to f-ing stand. F-ing cunts.
@haleyrose99 This woman went absolutely nuts on my flight & we had to return back to the gate to remove her. #govshutdown #newarkairport ♬ original sound – HaleyRose99
The flight attendant stays completely composed. You hear them say versions of “not a problem” while they step aside.
Legally, of course, it is a problem. When the seatbelt sign is on and an aircraft is preparing to move, passengers aren’t “allowed to stand up” just because they’re tired of sitting. Pilots can’t push back or taxi with people roaming the aisle.
The woman suddenly realizes she’s being filmed from across the aisle, locks eyes with the camera, and goes silent. It looks like embarrassment might do what reason could not. But it doesn’t last.
In a second video, a passenger explained what the original clip doesn’t show. The woman “just loses it and starts screaming the c-word over and over and over again.” Passengers go quiet. Someone nearby tries to tell her to calm down. That only escalates things: now she’s allegedly telling another woman to kill herself and insisting no one understands her life or where she has to be the next day.
Another passenger speaks up: his mother’s funeral is the next day. Everyone on this airplane has somewhere to be. Everyone on this airplane is at the mercy of the same dysfunctional system. He’s the one with the worst reason to be impatient, and he isn’t the one screaming slurs at crew.
The pilots eventually turn the aircraft back to the gate. Authorities board. The woman puts on sunglasses, chants “thank God” as she storms off.
@haleyrose99 Storytime!!! Newark-Charleston Flight incident explained!
Tarmac delays are governed by very specific rules. Airlines can’t keep you trapped on a domestic flight for more than three hours without giving you a chance to deplane, absent specific conditions such as safety getting off. Three hours at the gate plus an hour and a half on the tarmac is miserable, but it doesn’t violate the DOT rule.
You don’t have a personal veto over the seatbelt sign. If the captain wants everyone seated because the aircraft may move, arguing “I’m allowed to stand up” doesn’t get you a pass.
Swearing under your breath at United’s (otherwise excellent) app is one thing. Standing in the aisle, yelling slurs at crew, telling other passengers to kill themselves and refusing to comply with instructions is something else. The crew will assume you might escalate further.
Another piece of trash from Gary
More adults that have never been socialized beyond toddler stage. Thank modern parenting and our education system for these increasing numbers.
Hey Gary – might want to give the c-word the same treatment you give the f-word. No reason at all to leave that word in your already trashy non-story.
Allow me to translate what @George Romey just said for those who don’t speak Boomer… He thinks we should start ‘hitting’ the kids again… George is wrong, and that ‘method’ won’t help, but that’s what he’s saying, without literally saying it. He’s doing what we call in the biz… a ‘dog-whistle.’
Allow me to translate what @1990 just said for those who don’t speak Arrogant NYC Leftist…
“I am a retard”
90 minutes on the tarmac and 90-minutes in the queue. That’s three hours in my book which means if they were even one minute longer than that, they would have had to let passengers disembark.
Am I misunderstanding that?
@1990 Wrong again, as usual. Parents should be teaching their children proper behavior in a public place. Also, that life sometimes can be difficult and challenging (if you consider sitting in an airplane seat a life “difficulty”) and that having a meltdown doesn’t do anything but make matters worst. They don’t have to beat them to turn them into functional adults.
@George Romey, @Coolio — Quiet, piggies.
Rough comments section. People fighting about the best way to raise kids and insulting the writer. It should be embarrassing that even in a travel blog we can’t be civil. What has happened to us is the real tragedy. I fail to see how you here are significantly different than the girl in the article. You’re just dysfunctional in a different way. One that you seem to be blind to.
This should be an article about how the airline should have let people stretch their legs after an hour and a half, especially the elderly who need to prevent an embolism. But instead we get quoted dot rules which everyone knows are absurdly inadequate in the United States.
Coolio has not been socialized beyond the toddler stage. Pity.
Please quite pushing this type of stuff out to public. It happens and people pushed to limits of civil behavior. Rather, I can’t recall seeing a positive story of help, concern, care of civil behavior that deserved recognition – and I leave this plea with the Editor. We will all smile be kind and happier as a result.
I agree with JT. The ” rules” are to protect the airlines. BTW, I may be misinterpreting, but my take on the article is that there was a 3 hour delay. THEN, they boarded and waited 90 minutes on tarmac. THEN they were ( whatever in line) with another 90 minutes ( equals 6 hour delay). Yes, I KNOW, SAFETY FIRST, Yada , yada, yada. But, EXCUUUSE me: 90 minutes awaiting takeoff with the seat belt sign on??? Allow passengers to stand; use the restroom; and when the pilot gets notice that takeoff is imminent ( I don’t know….maybe 5th on line? Pick a number) THEN tell them to take their seats and fasten seat belts. Passengers’ bill of rights needs an update.
Because airlines know the time limit rules and play games with passenger comfort to avoid having to comply…it should be three hours from boarding, pure and simple….doesn’t matter what location the plane is at, gate, tarmac, taxiway or anywhere. If you’re trapped hostage on a plane for more than 3 hours for any reason you should be allowed to get off.
@bkkbob — Sounds like you want reforms, such as actual air passenger rights legislation, instead of the lack thereof which we have in the US today. Huh. Yeah, like, let’s ‘do something’ about that, please. Or not. Whatever.
@J A — If you can’t handle the heat, get outta the kitchen.
@HuskyNo1-AK — Oxford dictionary did pick ‘ragebait’ as word of the year; besides, this ‘attention economy’ relies on such outrage to manufacture hate-filled engagement in order to sell ads and fund these sites, so the incentives are actually for more stories like this, not less. Please, shoot the messenger. After all, I want to feel something again.
Retired 39 year TWA Captain.
The no standing rule was implemented in Washington, D.C. by bureaucrats who commute to work at FAA in a subway holding on to a strap at 35 MPH. Taxi speed of a 747 – especially following traffic – is about 6 mph. Stannding is good for the body. I used to turn the SB sign off on stops and make a PA to get them seated. Then move.
In Summer 2024 at IAH a large storm moved over the airport. We were delayed boarding for about an hour. When we boarded, we had to wait another hour or so to push back from the gate. During this time, we were allowed to get on/off the plane if we wanted (but had to take all belongings in case the plane pushed).
After the door closed, the 3 hour time limit started. We sat on the tarmac in traffic for 2.5 hours before we were on the runway and hitting rotate.
It was miserable, but I wouldn’t ever feel as entitled as this lady. What sucks is if our flight departed 15 minutes earlier, we would have avoided the ground stop from the storms.
In over 40 years of flying, it’s been my experience that it’s the passengers on the flight that makes the experience miserable rather than the airline. Have I had bad experiences with airlines? Absolutely. But nowhere near the number of times it’s been a fellow passenger. Oftentimes I hear “it’s the airlines fault that people misbehave”.
Never in my life have I ever blamed someone else for how I behaved.