Desmond Howard spent 11 seasons in the NFL, after winning the Heisman Trophy as a senior at Michigan. He holds the NFL record for most punt return yards in a single season. He was Super Bowl MVP in 1997. And he’s had a tv commentator gig. That makes him more or less cultural royalty in America. He may have higher ‘status’ than anyone ever to set foot on an American Airlines plane besides the Pope.
So when his seat opponent tried to have him removed from an aircraft for coughing, citing their status (“I am sure my status is higher than his so you should remove him”), I’m thinking that those of us who fly a lot – or in the case of American Airlines make heavy use of their shopping portal – get trained to start thinking that AAdvantage status is real?
An "Entitled" passenger tried to get me removed from @americanair flight because I was "sick". To justify is request he told the supervisor "I am sure my status is higher than his so you should remove him."😳
After I took this video he asked the FA if he could switch seats.😆 pic.twitter.com/4c6nM12tq1— Desmond Howard (@DesmondHoward) March 12, 2023
The last thing I ever want is to be seated next to someone that is coughing. That was true long before the pandemic. And Covid-19 certainly heightened sensitivities. And Howard does sound a little bit nasally in the video? So the passenger may have been on a heightened alert.
But there’s no longer a form to agree that you have no symptoms like a cough that you must complete in order to be allowed to fly. So if you find out you’re seated next to someone whose coughing makes you uncomfortable you have a choice:
- Sit next to them anyway and fly
- Ask to be re-seated. The plane may be full, which leads to limited options, but if you’re in first class you might get someone to switch
- Ask to deplane and take another flight
If you want to be re-seated on a full flight, hoping to offer a more desirable seat to someone to take yours, I tend to think you have an obligation to disclose the reason why. “I want to sit in the last row of coach” isn’t plausible. If you’re switching because you think someone next to you is going to make you sick, it’s pretty low to ask someone else to take that seat without disclosing that you believe the passenger in the next seat is sick.
Regardless, though, you do not have a fourth option “have the person I do not want to sit next to removed from the aircraft.” And even if that was a possibility, throwing down your AAdvantage status card isn’t going to make the case stronger.
Throwing out ‘Don’t You Know Who I Am’ is only going to engender a reaction, encapsulated by Howard as, “the caucasity” – a common refrain in the African American community drawing on ‘Caucasian’ and ‘audacity’. It’s not hard to imagine the effect on a black man when a white passenger uses their ‘status’ to try to have them kicked out of one of the seats up front.
“… And Howard does sound a little bit nasally in the video?”
Are you a doctor? Or showing your own “Caucasity” by assuming the guy making the video was lying, when he explained he was clearing his throat?
“Caucasity” is a racist term. Just because the target of the sneer is White, instead of the historically oppressed Black, does not change the inherent prejudicial (skin color based) discrimination of the term that has no place in any civilized society. Please, Gary, don’t encourage use of this term.
And, AAdvantage status is very much real when we are onboard a flight. I say this as someone who has never made it above Gold and who has been booted off a flight for someone of higher status.
if you are sick why travel?
Whether it was a reasonable request depends on how bad the coughing was and how sick the passenger seemed. Some people do have a long lasting cough from smoking even if they haven’t smoked in 40 years so coughing in itself is not necessarily a sign of sickness. No one wants to sit next to a sick person. I can see both sides of the issue.
What I don’t like to hear is the African A man using an anti white term.
Well, I see Gary’s moderation primarily seems to target comments critical of “one of the world’s top travel experts.”
@Jm – makes an unwarranted assumption, that I somehow removed his comment because it briefly was flagged by a computer as possible spam, and in fact i manually approved it. ironic for someone questioning making of assumptions.
Lol, all of the White guys mad that he used the term “Caucasity”, but nary a one of them concerned that the White guy that tried to have the Black man kicked off the plane was dog-whistling when he claimed that he probably had higher status. That is the definition of Caucasity.
Good at you AA! We both have your back. My wife and I have had to deal with losers that are older and think just because we are young (well were. . LOL) that we didn’t have status or $. We worked hard and have both! WE DONT LET LOSER BULLY US! So trump and his followers be warned, we aren’t Woke. . .we are just Human!
We’ve got your back!
@Corporate wage slave – 100% spot on. It is a racist term.
Even before Covid, airlines stated that having a communicable disease was a valid reason for them to refuse travel. They still state that.
Per American’s website,
“We may not let you fly (temporarily or permanently) for any reason, including if you:
…
* Have a communicable disease or virus, or if we suspect you have a communicable disease or virus”
Traveling by air while knowingly contagious has always been a jerk move and has always been a valid reason to be denied boarding.
Same goes for any other situation where you’re going to be in close proximity to other people. When you’re contagious, please just stay home.
(Not making any judgment as to whether the guy in this incident was contagious, though. Just pointing out that it’s still a reason why you should not travel and why you can [and should] be denied boarding, regardless of no longer having to explicitly answer questions about it at check-in.)
@vbscript2
What is the airlines policy on refunds and rescheduling in the event of passenger becoming sick when they are scheduled to travel? Surely it reflects their desire for travelers to refrain from travelling while ill.
Gary, I hate to say this, but you need to get exposed to some vira and bacteria all the time. It’s sadly very misunderstood that it’s good to avoid this.
Especially if you’re at risk (old, obese, or out of shape – or any combo of these).
Who?
In the absence of the guy with the cold hacking up a lung, it’s on the guy to move, not the guy with the cold. Put on your big boy pants.
So should AA require a comprehensive medical report from each passenger? Communicable disease runs from the common cold to STDs to small pox. It’s really upto the passenger.
He is nobody. Just another person on a plane. Sports Clowns are legends in their own mind.
“ It’s not hard to imagine the effect on a black man when a white passenger uses their ‘status’ to try to have them kicked out of one of the seats up front.”
Mic drop.
1. If you’re hacking up a lung, don’t fly.
2. Your status on a low-end airline is meaningless.
Discourteous people all around.
People who are infectious should not travel. If for some reason they do then they should be considerate and wear a tight-fitting mask so as not to infect the other passengers.
Gary left off option 4 which is for the unhappy passenger to wear his own tight fitting N94 mask (I don’t buy the chicom N95 masks). That is what I did last year when I was seated in F for 7 hours on a TK flight next to an inconsiderate bastard who was sick and literally coughing the whole time. By some miracle I did not get infected so maybe the vax and mask combo actually works. Who knew?
Anyway I was tempted to tell the bastard to mask up but F was full and I wasn’t going to accept a Y seat. It never occurred to me to ask the airline to eject him.
Well, since the Fatboy bigshot doesn’t like it and proclaims that he has higher status, then the male karen can take another damn flight if he thinks he’s some kind of big shot. The nerve of people like him who thinks he’s entitled just cos he’s some kind of a damn commentator for the NFL.
Or, you know, dude could have worn an N95 mask and he would have been just fine sitting next to Des. But I suspect he has zero experience with that.
Saw this story and totally knew Gary would rush to publish this type of garbage. Of course people trying to make it all about race. Somehow I doubt it would be different if the person was white. This passenger sounds like a clown who would freak out if anyone was coughing next to them. Its ok if they asked for themselves to be moved because nobody should have to sit next to somebody who appears to be sick and get themselves infected especially if they are at a start of a trip. What is not ok is to expect the other person to be moved and then to act like your airline status comes into it somehow. This is how we know this other person was an unstable person because who thinks airline status works like this?
@Greg, He probably doesn’t carry a mask with him anymore, but, I would imagine a crew member could have given him one. And airline air filtration systems work well. It should not be about fame, airline status or race..
I have a long standing cough. No, it’s not from smoking. No, I don’t have any communicable disease. The cough is from allergies to furs, feathers, pollen, and house dust. It goes away a few minutes after the plane reaches altitude (less pollen up there, and better air filtration on the plane), or when on a SCUBA dive (filtered air in the tanks).
Asking the flight attendant to kick another passenger off for any reason short of violence or a well founded reason to suspect a possible hijacking (you saw the gun or bomb, not the ethnicity of the passenger) is a jerk move.
Saying you are certain your status is higher than the other person’s status just because they are of color is racist.
The term caucasity may be warranted in some cases. It is calling out apparent racist behavior in whites towards people of color. FWIW I’m white, and I firmly believe that there need to be ways to call out racist behavior. (If I ever do something you consider racist, I would really like you to tell me what I did and why you consider it racist).
People are sick on airplanes all of the time. Most don’t display symptoms or use medications or other means to suppress symptoms. Since I have been wearing N95 masks, I have not got the respiratory infections i used to get. So when I fly, I am always masked except while eating. Please have Mr. Desmond Howard come sit next to me in coach. Or I could move. I would hope to have a great conversation with him, especially about pro football. We certainly could talk about the Packers.
Cultural “royalty “…didn’t we,the United States rid ourselves of that whole royalty thing a couple of centuries plus ago?
Those Friday Night Lights of Texas have driven Gary full-on bat-sh*t crazy. Knew he’d jump all over this story. Des Howard has no more status or worth on a plane than the next fella. Football star or not. Get over yourself Gary
@Gary
“…ironic for someone questioning making of assumptions”
Not so ironic given the blog’s notoriety for sloppy editing and hubris.
It would be fun to be a fly on the wall at Mr. Caucasian’s house when he tells somebody what happened and the somebody says:
Somebody: Did you get the guy’s name?
Mr. Caucasian” Yeah his name is Desmond Howard?
Somebody: (looking up Desmond Howard net worth on Google) Well clearly this guy had no business flying in first class, his net worth is only $14 million…SAY!!!! How many millions of dollars did you say you have?
Americans are by farther greatest and most disgusting assholes on the planet. Just read the comments . I hope you morons get all nuked soon.
I got a lung infection a couple of years ago and had a chronic cough ever since. Should I not be allowed to fly for the rest of my life?
@Corporate wage slave Recognizing someone’s skin color is not racist. Did Mr. Howard try to get the white passenger kicked off or moved because he was white? Racism is about exclusion and intent, not simply noticing or acknowledging someone’s skin color.