Passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Chicago Midway found themselves sitting behind a woman with her hair draped over their seat back. They didn’t want a confrontation, but they didn’t want the woman’s hair in their face, so they sought help from a flight attendant.
According to the passengers, the flight attendant replied, “What exactly would you like me to do?”
“What do you want me to say???”
byu/Choice_Tie_8838 inSouthwestAirlines
Normally I’d suggest involving the authority of a crewmember rather than escalating a confrontation with a passenger on your own. But here it seemed like the flight attendant was saying it’s Road Warrior time. You’re on your own, with no one else to depend on. You must take matters into your own hands.
So which camp are you in?
- Say “excuse me”
- Pull the hair
- Scissors
- Dip it in coffee
- Gum
Now, honestly on Southwest Airlines this isn’t nearly as bad as on Delta or on JetBlue, since those airlines consistently offer seat back entertainment screens. The hair would be obstructing your view (and touch screen control). It’s still bad even on American, since you’re covering up the device holder that pops out of the seat back so you can watch entertainment on your own device.
Regardless of airline though this is downright wrong, and a whole new way to be awful at 30,000 feet. What would you do?
Seems like a good chance to have some fun with the seat back tray table.
A few squirts of super glue may not fix it immediately, but will have a residual effect.
I haven’t flown on commercial air since 2007 and am in no hurry to fly again.
I love the response from Tzompantli and Gordon Reynolds!!
same thing happened to me on a Southwest flight. the flight attendant saw it too and didn’t say anything. I went to the bathroom and on the way back staired at her. That resolved it. If she didn’t I would have taken a picture of her hair and face and posted wherever it would let me. Is this a Southwest clientele issue.
People who fly to Vegas tend to be savage. It’s sad how much society has declined.
If, after you politely asked them to move their hair and they refused, you “accidently” start randomly pulling their hair. When they ask you to stop, say “sorry, your hair, that you refused to move is covering my tray table latch and I will be putting it down and up. If you don’t want your hair pulled, remove your hair from my seat.”. Continue pulling until they remove their from your seat.
When the seatbelt sign goes off, get out of your seat. Go to a flight attendant. Make sure you get that person’s name, FIRST. Then address that flight attendant by name. NOW he/she/?? knows that you know the name. “Mr/Ms/??, I’m in seat XX. The person sitting in the seat ahead of me has draped his/her/?? hair over the back of the seat and is not only annoying but rude. Would you please attend to this right away as I don’t want to cause a commotion?” Now, the flight attendant knows: 1-you have a name. 2-You have made a polite service request. 3-armed with both the name and the request, the attendant knows that you have the ammo to make a formal complaint. MAKE NO THREATS at this time. IF the attendant does nothing, then…yes, tell the annoying hair person to remove the hair. As you deplane, get the captain’s name AND if the captain is greeting the deplaning people…SAY SOMETHING. “I was seating in seat XX. The person sitting ahead of me in seat YY, etc. I asked Mr/Ms/? if he/she/?? could ask that person to move the hair but nothing was done. I need you to know that I am going to file a formal complaint with the airline, the DOT and my representatives. Thank you for our safe flight.” Then file a formal complaint with the DOT, the airline AND NAME NAMES and the seat number of the annoying hair. Don’t send it on social media…SNAIL MAIL with a courtesy copy to your Congress representatives and note the cc: on all of your correspondence. Never let a lieutenant do what a general does better…in this case.
I take back what I said about the man card- I still live with my mom and I love her so much
The passenger with the offensive hair may not know she’s causing an offense. The passenger being offended, should see if there is another seat available. Long (gross) hair draped over the seat back is akin to people who fully recline their seats. It sucks but options are limited. Safe travels!
big wet sneeze should do the trip
As a working flight attendant for 18 years, I would not hesitate to approach the passenger and simply let her know her hair is draped over the back of her seat and to move it on her side of the seat. It’s not negotiable, and there is no discussion to be had. Just do it.
I am a bit surprised at this—I have quite short hair (often buzzcut), but it seems a bit weird to be offended by this (and the person who seems to think seat reclining isn’t ok either). Since when is it ok to avoid talking to the actual person you have a problem with? Part of our trouble today is that (1) people seem to be offended over everything and (2) when people are offended, they don’t talk directly with the person causing the offense. There are limits (it would be pretty foolish to chase down the guy who cuts me off in traffic), and the suggestion from another comment to avoid escalation is important. In this particular case, the hair itself isn’t really a problem—it isn’t actually touching the tray release, so the passenger didn’t really need to deal with the hair directly.
Because that ignorant red-headed person did NOT pay for my plane seat, I would nicely let them know they are using MY SPACE. Unless they reimburse me, CASH, for what I paid for my plane seat…
AND they should be so very GRATEFUL folks are not allowed to bring scissors on planes anymore… they would have been very unhappy once they reached the destination! As a hair stylist for over 40 years, this would be the one haircut, I would not care if the person did not like!!!! HA!