Justin Cho and his family were preparing to board Delta flight DL937 from Los Angeles to Cancun on Friday. They tried to board the flight during priority boarding and were told to wait.
The father had his boarding pass scanned first. Since the rest of the family were several people back he waited for them before entering the jetway. And he got into an altercation with a Delta gate agent as a result.
[Gate agent] Isabel told my dad “you have to walk in, go inside” and my dad responded ” I am waiting for my family”. Isabel then told my dad very sternly, as if he were a child “you can’t wait here, go inside”. My dad again told her ” I am going to wait for my family” by this point both my dad and Isabel were irritated with each other, then to my surprise Isabel snatched my dads passport and ticket out of his hand and shouted “that’s it, you’re not getting on go back in line”. Imagine looking at your father and seeing him being treated like a child in front of a huge group of people. He literally did nothing wrong and just wanted to board the plane together with his family for our vacation.
As adult son Justin Cho explains it the whole family then got into an altercation with the agents. He says he “started getting frustrated” and asked the agent “who do you think you are?” His mother didn’t like the look on the agent’s face in response, and ordered “don’t you look like that at my son.”
The Delta agents at the gate then decided the family wouldn’t be flying. Airport police were called. Snippets of the family’s interaction were shared by video:
The family notes that Delta had been soliciting volunteers during the check-in process in case the flight wound up oversold. So kicking them off could have saved the airline money (although there’s no indication that the flight was actually oversold at the gate). And they’re Asian indeed the only Asians in the boarding line at the time of the altercation (although not the only Asians on the flight). So as Mr. Cho says “I feel discriminated against.”
I generally believe that airline customer service agents can do a much better job at customer service, understanding a customer’s needs and providing empathy. I don’t blame individual agents most of the time. Airlines don’t give them the resources they need to do that job. And the culture of security that’s developed since 9/11 means that airlines are quick to call the police to handle customer service issues.
Airline personnel have an issue with passengers videotaping but it’s often the only way to document legitimate customer service problems. Here a Delta agent goes over to the police to try to get the family to stop videotaping their interactions. There Delta does cross a line in my view.
While Delta can be petty and self-serving to the point of dishonest I’m not prepared to judge this incident primarily about race. While there may have been a cultural misunderstanding, it seems notable that other Asians successfully took the flight. Am I mistaken or out of line?
The father should have just kept moving when the agent told him not to wait there. He was wrong in insisting on waiting for his family. The agents are responsible for monitoring the jetway and making sure no one gets on without a ticket, boards the wrong flight etc.
Why didn’t they all board together? It’s not like Southwest where people run to get seats and hold them for others. He should have gotten out of the jetway. You can’t stand there. I highly doubt this has anything to do with race.
They weren’t prevented from boarding for being Asian. They were prevented from boarding for being retarded.
Just like in interactions with police, your best course of action is to STFU and do as instructed. Starting an argument is virtually never in your best interests.
The moron could have just as easily gotten on the plane and waited half a minute for his family to arrive. He could have strolled slowly down the jet ramp and they would have caught up to him in half a minute. But no, his solution was to go into whiny little bitch mode.
@Smitty – surely that’s not a reason to take his passport away and cancel his flight? Waiting for family members happens *ALL THE TIME*. It wasn’t a safety issue, it was just a power trip.
@J.C. No I don’t think this warranted taking a passport away. I can guess that the situation escalated out of proportion to the offense. I guess in my travels, I have been told to move on when waiting for friends or family especially with immigration or customs. I just figure it is for security and I move on.
Agent was out of line – but seriously, if you are the passenger why escalate? Just walk down the jetway, board, and your family will be there a minute later. Hardly worth a confrontation. You are on the agent’s turf, best recognize that.
So many of these incidents would be completely avoidable if the passengers weren’t idiots.
J.C., were you there? You seem quick to judge the Asian dude is mentally retarded (J.C. words). I think JC is def. racist and hates disabled people.
the point here is the gate agent think he has the power to cancel anyone’s flight if you are not listen to him even though its not safety issue. My understand is airline industry should change the power rights and more focus on customer service.
I have to disagree with what seems to be the consensus so far. If I’m a parent and my family is behind me in a line to board, or a TSA line for that matter, I’m going to wait to make sure they get through OK. I’m obligated to be out of the way and , to not cross back to the other side of the agent, but I’m not going out of sight of my family. If I’m on the plane and they’re denied entry for any of the possible reasons, how am I going to know what’s happened. If the story is as presented, the dad did nothing wrong and the agent was on a power trip. It may not have been prejudice but just the “normal” bad behavior we all run into some time.
Wow, that escalated quickly! Why was the family separated in the boarding line anyway? After being rebuffed once by the snarky gate agent he should have moved on. The family (adults it appears) all had seat allocations and would have rejoined dad in half a minute onboard.
Yet another timely reminder to follow crew/agents instructions even if you think they are unfair. Often they are just trying to get the plane boarded quickly. The eventual outcome seems extreme, but plainly the family caused a kerfuffle in arguing, and at that point were treated as disruptive passengers and denied boarding. A lose-lose incident regrettably.
JC comments are offensive. “They were prevented from boarding for being retarded.” Can’t use the r word anymore. Please remove this person’s comments.
Agent should be fired. You don’t take away a passport and deny boarding when a passenger argues over something meaningless. These power tripping airline personnel will not stop unless heads start rolling
Why was he not WITH his family in the first place?
“Family Claims They Were Kicked Off Delta Flight for Being Asian”
Whoa if true.
They were kicked off for not obeying airline agent instructions and getting combative rather than their race.
I have no idea how quickly things escalated, but it seems obvious to me that after scanning your boarding pass you need to proceed through the gate. The gate agent needs to know who is and isn’t on the flight and make sure only confirmed passengers board. They can’t do that if people are milling about at the door to the jetway.
Regarding Jerry’s need to keep visual sight of his family at all times, I’d suggest either boarding together or boarding after them. Most adults have mobile phones these days to communicate with as well.
Jerry says:
July 4, 2017 at 7:26 pm
I have to disagree with what seems to be the consensus so far. If I’m a parent and my family is behind me in a line to board, or a TSA line for that matter, I’m going to wait to make sure they get through OK. I’m obligated to be out of the way and , to not cross back to the other side of the agent, but I’m not going out of sight of my family. If I’m on the plane and they’re denied entry for any of the possible reasons, how am I going to know what’s happened. ”
This is utter crap. Stay with your family before you board. If you cant all get on at the same time (ie you cant all share your status for whatever reason) – too bad – stay together. You have to go backwards in line to stay together? Tough shit.
As far as being discriminated against for being Asian? In Los Angeles (where I reside)? This would be laughable, except that it isn’t. In fact it makes me angry. This jerk wanted to show the agent who was boss – and he found out. STFU Jason Cho.
I agree with Gary, it seems there’s a cultural problem. Asian tends to be corteous. You want passenger move, ask nicely, no need to to be stern or yell. American well… they tend to do their job as quick as possible and maximize whatever bargaining power they have in their hand, in this case, power. See the general FA of asian airlines and us airlines for easy example.
@Jerry Then you should be a few places back in line with them, no?
I have seen this millions of times with people, especially from Korea and China. They have no concept of waiting one’s turn in line. One will try to be first in line via whatever method works, then they haul the entire neighborhood in with them.
Kudos to the Delta rep.
Why do people have to feel that they are always right?
#behumble
The DL Gate Agent was right.
The Cho family was wrong in so many ways, then play the race card is the worst among all their already very bad behaviors.
Speaking this as an Asian myself.
I dont know the update states, the extra passenger was the pilots wife. I am sorry but it looks the airline was looking to bump someone and not have to pay (i.e. due to the overbooking) and when the gate saw the father doing something perfectly reasonable they used predatory practices to avoid paying out. No I personally dont think this was a race thing, but the smug look on the employees face, and going to the police to stop video recording is slippery/slimy behavior. Clearly a power-trip.
Unlike Qatar or Ethiad the DL ACS employees have a reasonable expectation to be treated with courtesy and respect by the passengers and don’t have to take abuse like the gulf carrier employees do. It’s bad form to continue filming someone when they politely ask that you to stop.
The customer is NOT always right. There is often more to the story than people are willing to admit. The ailines have always been easy targets for the media and consumer groups. Plus everyone has a megaphone today with social media, smartphones, etc.
Gary plays into this by posting articles and content like this.
Dont blame the GA for unloading them, if it was me Id do the same Id assume (maybe wrongly) if they wont listen on the ground when told to do something then probably they wont when in the air. Nothing about being Asian simply all about not following instructions. As others have said whats the big deal of entering the jetway and waiting there or why didnt he simply allow others to go ahead of him before handing over his BP or even better just fall back and join the other family members where they stood
@Larry. Bad form or not people have a constitutional right to record. Period. I think its a reasonable expectation not to be bumped for the Capt’s wife for a flight you payed for. Again I agree there maybe more to this than meets the eye, but squarely blaming one party isnt okay either.
Errr… why bring Qatar and Etihad in this issue? Is it a racist thing? Hmmm…….
1. So we have a group who did NOT have Priority Boarding who felt entitled to it. Strike one.
2. They then were rude to the gate agent (or at least perceived to be after they were told to wait their turn). Stttteeeeeeryyyyyk two.
3. Daddy Dearest then continued to argue with the agent. YUUUURRRR OUUUUT!
F***, people are stupid.
Playing the race card. Lost all credibility.
The agent committed an assault and should be prosecuted. Airline employees are service industry employees, not law enforcement. More incidents like this and lawsuits will teach the glorified door staff and sky waiters their place. I love the way the cop told the agent that he can videotape what he likes. 7-figure settlement and move on.
Somebody call the whaaambulance for Mr cho. Whaa whaa whaa. Asians like he and his family hold the rest of us back
Will somebody please actually point to any evidence that race was an issue here? That said American airport staff are nothing but rude and aggressive to my European eye.
Delta was absurd and trying to get the police to make them stop videotaping should result in people being fired. While the delta agent was on a power trip the kneejerk reaction to claim racism by the family leaves me with almost no sympathy for them. The father was instructed to keep moving and he refused. He created the situation and race had nothing to do with it. If staying together with his family was soo important why werent they directly behind him? Barring another passenger in his family being a young child I don’t see why the hell he couldn’t get on the damn plane like everyone else. Still if the agent did shout or snatch a passport out of a passenger’s hand they should be fired. That type of behavior is just not acceptable on any level. These airlines really need new instructors for customer service. If an agent is overworked they can get snother job. Plenty of people will take their slot. Both parties in this situation are wrong.
lol… in Chinese, there is a saying. 与人方便，自己方便 — roughly meaning, convenience others, thus convenience yourself. It’s best not to confront small issues, let others have their way or request, makes your live easier — especially when traveling.
Seriously though. Why get into an alteration due to boarding? That’s like pretty stupid — its not like the mom isn’t there to go with the kids.
It was an obvious power ego by the gate agent who targetted the Asian minority. (The only other family that was double checked by the agent in passports were Asians according to video)
If just United shld not get away with it, Delta shld not too. And another case of trigger happy calling the Police card.
While I don’t think it is about being Asian and it is kinda silly to bring this up in this case, I think there are two reasons at least to hear his argument. One is the cultural thing if the family is from a different country where things are more normal and have much better treatments of traveling family ( I see this a lot in Asian cultures/airlines; for example families with kids board before elites in Turkish air, I am like what but that is how they do things and culturally it is expected there)
Second is that the fact that the minorities are constantly discriminated, so much so that often race is their first reaction to these kinda of situations. Of course, we see it more objectively and dismiss it immediately and laugh at them but it is sometimes hard to understand for someone who rarely get treated unfairly without a reason. That is our society’s problem and we seed this idea in the brains of the minorities and even worse is that we laugh and degrade them when they bring the race card. Of course, they are cases where minorities use the race card even when they knew it had nothing to do with race. But at least we should listen first without judgment
People do know that if traveling together (family) can usually board with highest priority…that’s been the case for many, many years…
@AP : You might want to resist that high school civics class. People do NOT have a constitutional right to record. Period.
There happen to be states where recording another without their explicit consent is a crime.
But nice try, though.
@Standup : Armchair quarterback much? The only thing obvious is that you haven’t a clue.
That another Asian couple had their passports rechecked is just an allegation made by the Korean family who has a strong incentive to lie. In addition, it’s virtually impossible that they scrutinized each passenger boarding to see whether anybody’s passport was reexamined or not. They aren’t even aware of how many other passengers are of Asian descent or belong to other ethnic groups.
So you can scratch ESP off your list of accomplishments.
As a DL gate agent, I’d like to add a few things. The boarding of a flight is substantially more stressful than many of you know… there are metrics that must be met (examples: first BP to scanned by D-35, door closed by D-10). There are often wheelchairs to be boarded including passengers needing aisle chairs to be boarded before any other passengers climb up their backs. To top it off, TSA does random attacks where plainclothes agents try to sneak around the stanchions to gain entry to the jetway. Fines are substantial.
There are typically two agents working a flight, one totally engrossed in assigning seats and fielding requests while the other agent is trying to scan BP’s while using peripheral vision to keep the jetway door secure. I totally understand why the agent would not want passengers loitering between the scanner and the door.
Finally, agents and attendants are responsible to maintain order. When a passenger refuses to cooperate, and then becomes hostile, we don’t want him onboard. It’s much easier and safer to deal with a hostile passenger at field elevation versus 35,000 feet and an hour from the nearest suitable place of landing.
This is about security and controlling people who get on the plane without th agent being aware of it period….end of story! Let DELTA do their job and if you can’t follow instructions, then you should drive to wherever you are going!
@Davisson Xu : 与人方便，自己方便. That’s a good one! 🙂
Something good did come out of this whole altercation. The Korean guy is all whiny little baby about this and more and more people are learning about it.
杀鸡给猴看. Hundreds of people will now learn to just STFU and do as the gate agent asks you to do.
@ FUJC : So as soon as your EBT card dries up you are in whiny little bitch mode, eh?
By definition, anybody who gets kicked off a flight because they can’t STFU and follow simple instructions by the gate agent IS retarded.
And so are you. Poor WLB cries racism without even knowing who the person is that’s accused. Does it hurt when you think?
Yes the agent’s attitude was not right but PLEASE stop pulling the racist card. I’m a minority myself and agents board all kinds of passengers ALL the time so I doubt they behave like that with just asians. Also passengers are immediately taping when an agent do something wrong and makes the company look bad. I wish agents and flight attendants can film how nasty passengers scream and behave with them and can’t do anything about them not flying again. Now that’s unfair!!!
Justin Cho grew up in Los Angeles. He is a Korean-AMERICAN. Let’s not make this out to be a misunderstanding of some exotic “cultural differences” at the gate. The gate agent was an a-hole and the family acted like a-holes in return. Looks like everyone was in the wrong on this one.
is there a wake of lawyers circling yet ?
As a retiree of 34 years, I have to say, in my mind, it was handled badly. This was a nothing burger turned into a big deal. Sometimes we forget that travel is traumatic to most people. I have been cursed and called names and never called the police. It comes with the territory. That being said, a little kindness goes a long way. I wouldn’t have hurt the gate agent to suck it up and handle it a little better. You are not paid for everything to go well. You are paid to handle the problems of the public. He had a problem, people got between him and his family in line and then he plainly felt they might not make it. Understand the guys feelings…you might have gotten a good letter from a very grateful passenger. Now look what you got, a steaming pile of manure!
J.C.: You have no idea what you are talking about when it comes to the law on recording. In fact, in public you have an absolute right to record anything and everything you please with no ones consent. As long as you stay out of the way of the police doing their job when you are not the person with whom the police are interacting, you can tape anything you want. Try knowing what you are talking about before being a blowhard nazi.
The father could have waited to have his ticket scanned with the rest of the family. I he needed extra time boarding and assistance the agent would have allowed one family member to go with him. He should have listen to the agent and kept moving. It is a security breach to have someone not art of the aircraft or ground crew to stand in the jet way. The family is making a big deal about something that is a direct result from their not following rules.
Oh and “Steve Griffin” who wrote
“The agent committed an assault and should be prosecuted. Airline employees are service industry employees, not law enforcement. More incidents like this and lawsuits will teach the glorified door staff and sky waiters their place. I love the way the cop told the agent that he can videotape what he likes. 7-figure settlement and move on.” you are absolutely wrong! But judging by your tone and calling agents “door staff and flight attendants “sky waiters” says volumes about what kind of person you are. Gate agents and Flight Attendants go through mandatory security and medical training. I was a Flight Attendant Purser for 33 years. I think I may have a little more knowledge on this than you. Also they have the power to deny boarding for several reasons. Anyone in an airport wearing a badge has more “Power” than you do sir. Its people like you who have this sense of privilege that are the problem today not those that work for a living butting up with your bullshit.
All the arrogant delta pricks are coming out of the woodwork to defend an arrogant delta agent. Shocker.