A United Airlines flight attendant called for security on an elderly disabled first class passenger who asked for assistance stowing her cane and small purse, since she’s not allowed to keep them with her for takeoff because she was seated in a bulkhead row.

A fellow first class passenger on the flight shares the incident.

• An “elderly disabled” passenger seated at the first class bulkhead “politely asked the flight attendant if she could help put” up her “small purse and a fully collapsed” into the overhead bin.

• The flight attendant “got super defensive and aggressive,”

  ABSOLUTELY NOT, I CANNOT DO THAT DUE TO UNION REGULATIONS, WHAT IF I GET INJURED, MA’AM, MAAAAAAM!!!

• The lady became apologetic, explaining that she “only asked because she’s disabled and can’t do it herself” and noted that she’s never had problems when making this request before.

• The flight attendant didn’t let it go. She “kept insisting that lady was being unreasonable.” Fortunately another passenger stepped in to assist the woman in stowing her carry-ons. But the flight attendant “then angrily slammed the bins closed and stomped back to her jump seat.”

Hopefully that would have been the unpleasant end of it, but the flight attendant decided to delay the flight. The plane had already pushed back. It sat, though, for a few minutes before a pilot came on and announced that “there had been an incident and we’re heading back to the gate.”

Security boarded and told the elderly lady that the FA felt uncomfortable because the lady was “talking down” to her. Everyone around was stunned — it was exactly the opposite (the FA was the one who was being aggressive and yelling at this poor old lady).

Since it was obvious to staff who boarded the plane that there was no threat, they left and did not remove the elderly disabled passenger. This was awkward for the flight attendant, who “then gave the safety announcement in the most eerie, overly cheerful, almost sociopathic-sounding voice.”

Here’s video of the employee who boarded the aircraft talking to the woman:

Just witnessed really upsetting incident with a disabled elderly passenger and United flight attendant
byu/mildlyburner inunitedairlines

The idea that the flight attendant was prohibited from helping by ‘union regulations’ is just incorrect. The flight attendant’s union contract may be what the crewmember is referring to, but it definitely does not say they cannot help with the cane.

Flight attendants generally aren’t required to assist passengers with their bags, however Department of Transportation regulations actually do require the airline to provide the assistance that the passenger was asking for!

Once a passenger with a disability has boarded, airlines must provide assistance, if requested, such as:

• moving to or from the lavatory, including using an on-board chair to assist, if requested.

• stowing and retrieving carry-on items, including assistive devices.

This flight attendant is everything that’s wrong with airline culture, and why in many ways Delta crews whle not as good as they were pre-pandemic (too many good ones left, and their replacements aren’t up to par) are the heart of the ‘Delta Difference’. Their flight attendants are somewhat friendlier and more helpful – treating passengers as people.

Credit: United Airlines

It’s important to note that this isn’t necessarily a union versus non-union result, as some online commenters suggest keying off of the flight attendant’s reported claim about union rules. Southwest Airlines crew are generally quite good and also unionized. There’s a saying, though, that management ‘gets the unions they deserve’ and decades of bad management at United is difficult and time-consuming to reverse, doubly so in a unionized environment.