A woman standing by the aisle of a Frontier flight was filmed having an argument with a flight attendant, and the passenger passenger repeatedly claims the crewmember has an “issue with minorities” and that the flight attendant “triggered” her. Although she says it in a profane way.
The passenger also says she expects “a little bit more kindness and respect.” The flight attendant responds calmly, albeit a bit sarcastically calling her “darling” and with firm intent:
- “I don’t know what you went through today.”
- “We need security.” / “You’re going to wait right there.”
- “No, you’re in control of your own actions.”
The woman gets removed. Her “trigger” appears to be a trivial phrasing, something along the lines of “are you from here?” or “are you from Florida?” during a back-and-forth. The passenger treated it as disrespectful and biased.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian says the problem with civility in the skies is poor people being able to fly, a function of the downward push deregulation had on airfares exacerbated by ultra-low cost carriers. He’s wrong, of course. But ultra-low cost carriers do tend to have more of these issues (though they seem more common on American than on United, as well).
(HT: Live and Let’s Fly)
So if Bastian is wrong, then why are the statistics what they are? Low cost carriers have more incidents. I realize correlation is not causation, but here, I think that stat says everything.
Ghetto behavior. Anyone that states they are “triggered” is automatically a loser. What is next “micro aggressions”?
What’s the 1930’s Germany-equivalent of current-day and also Jim-Crow-era ‘Florida’? Like, Berlin was pretty ‘woke’ 20s, I was told. So, is it Bavaria? Is Florida, basically Bavaria? Or is that Texas? Arkansas? Oh, historic analogy. How fun. Join in!
Someone so easily “triggered” should not be out in public. A nice white fully padded room seems much more appropriate. Yes in Florida.
Hmmm, time for the CEO of Delta to step down? I cannot imagine that his remarks would be taken well. However, after my second ride on Frontier, I vowed never to set foot on a Frontier Aircraft again. Way too much drama.
Dear Ed Bastian,
Bad behavior has nothing to do with income level.
Signed,
A poor person who Flys, and knows how to act.
No indication of what started the whole thing. That would interesting to see.
I want to be friends with this flight attendant. I love her!
The best day in the US domestic airline business will be when Frontier goes out of business, preceded by Spirit.
Flying is already a challenging and difficult experience. Coupled with stress pre-flight with TSA, checking bags and getting to the boarding gate.
America has been taught to ‘hate’ the last year. And yes, a certain type of individual is better at it and welcomes the conflict.
Delta is correct. Carriers like Frontier and especially Spirit are a bit more venerable to this class or level of passenger. They are often borderline Greyhound and sometimes intoxicated. They are racist in many situations.
Fly with a major carrier. Carriers such as United carry a business type of flyer. Delta as well. America is changing and not for the better but still a far better choice than Spirit and Frontier.
If the airline doesn’t have a real FIRST CLASS, it’s probably a bargain cheap carrier.
Sean Duffy (Transportation Secretary) is far more concerned about passengers wearing pajamas instead of the safety of the aircraft and passengers who actually threaten crew or the safety of the aircraft..
“He’s wrong, of course. But ultra-low cost carriers do tend to have more of these issues”
So he’s wrong, but he’s right? Of course he’s right, though now there’s plenty of uncivilized wealthy people too. Just different levels if trash. Arrogant, entitled union FAs don’t help either.
@Retired Gambler
White trash response from the terminally online.
Too much to unpack here…film at 11!
@George Romey — Classic. Rooting for less competition… big brain!
@Mike P — Yeah, for bad actors like you to perpetuate them, needlessly and often harmfully.
Gee whiz, it isn’t rocket science. Low class people exist in all economic classes (think Kayne West). But, there is a good correlation.
Oh, and BTW, I can’t view the video because of international restrictions. Thus, my comments are general
Doesn’t show the whole story. Flight attendants in USA are often times rude and obnoxious even. Yes the customer should have known better, but it is definitely possible the flight attendant was being rude and disrespectful. I do find sometimes the flight attendant and gate agents have way too much power and sometimes they abuse it. It gives them no right to make fun of passengers and act like they can say of do anything.
Do you know why it happens more in ULCC or Americans VS Delta? It’s not simply the passengers are poorer. It’s because the fought attendants themselves are more ghetto.
Is being “triggered” the same as being “disrespected”?
lol, we have seen the facts and we disregard them. Sounds like most “journalists” nowadays.
Every time someone uses the word “triggered” I sprain an eyeball. Some people just look for trouble and find it. That said, there are industries in which the general public and frontline employees engage more respectfully. You don’t see this kind of hollering in banks or medical offices or most sit-down restaurants or Trader Joe’s (Walmart is another story). Airline employees need to have scripts for this. How to address customers. Customers need to know there is no tolerance.
It is a spurious correlation — two things that appear to be correlated but are not causally linked as they are both correlated with a third variable. Perhaps the cheap airlines have poor service (as is my limited experience) and that makes people annoyed before they even board the plane. No need to quibble about the stats — more problems on cheaper airlines — the problem is that people are angrier on the cheaper airlines and the airlines should try to remedy that, and weed out the poor service attendants and reward the good ones.
Am I the only one that think the chump recording this – then posting this – is an a-hole? If I was sitting next to him you can bet we’d probably have our own confrontation.
I’ve not been on a ton of flights, but I have flown on Delta, Jet Blue and Frontier, and I’ve never seen any sort of fight or disruption, nor have I ever seen anyone pulled off a plane in my presence. With that said, the guy from Delta isn’t wrong. It’s the same with Cruises, look at all the issues that arise on Carnival Cruise Lines versus say Norwegian. Flying and cruising have always been for more affluent people, and a lot of times more affluent people have better manners in public spaces. They don’t treat a flight attendant like the manager at Walmart. They are quite needy and sometimes ask a lot, sometimes talk down to the “help” but they don’t get nuts and start screaming at anyone. It’s not something they have to do in the course of their daily lives.
Also being able to put things like cruises or flights on Afterpay or Klarna, has opened up the market to folks who normally would never be able to afford it. But break it down over 6 months and all the cashiers at Walmart are going.
I grew up lower to middle income but as a sophisticated southerner who was raised better than that, I’ve never considered raging out on someone helping me. I was taught by my rich aunts that just because you don’t have money doesn’t mean you act like trash. Some folks parents just didn’t raise them right or with any respect for others. Had she been raised right, she’d have kindly responded with her answer and said something like “Nope, I’m from Georgia” and then sat down and got ready to fly. I mean I get it, nobody wants to be from Florida, but it’s not worth getting kicked off a flight to defend yourself.
In the future, business class will mean a complete plane with economy on its own aircraft.