A United Airlines customer service agent in San Francisco is shown on video threatening to call ICE, because the passenger she’s talking to did not “act like a citizen.” She had her own phone out recording the customer, as he recorded her.
In the 83-second video, the argument is already underway. The repeatedly dares her to call ICE, while another employee asks whether he wants the police involved. But he wants ICE called, “like you said.” He grows loud, calls the agent lazy, rude and racist, predicts that she will be fired and says that he will sue.
Toward the end, the woman leaves the counter area and approaches him while still holding her own phone. She reaches toward his camera and the image jolts.
United Airlines threatens to call ICE on customer then walks up to him and pushes phone away
by
u/666TripleSick in
unitedairlines
The passenger says this happened on Wednesday after the employee was “rude and dismissive,” that the customer had asked for her name so that he could report her, and that the customer is a U.S. citizen. The employee’s badge identifies her as an IAM union steward.
The customer becomes annoyingly repetitive. He may have been difficult before the recording began. If he was threatening people, law enforcement is the appropriate next step (not federal immigration authorities). ICE is not the escalation team for customers an airline employee doesn’t like dealing with.
In any case, citizenship is irrelevant.
- Non-citizens travel all the time. There are foreign citizens working in the U.S. on visas. There are tourists. Some are permanent residents, others are temporary. There’s no citizenship requirement for air travel.
- California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act guarantees equal service by businesses regardless of citizenship or immigration status. Federal law prohibits airlines from discriminating in air transportation based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex or ancestry. The state cause of action is unlikely to be preempted by the Airline Deregulation Act as regulation of routes, prices or service.
That said, this is terrible customer service no matter who started it but likely not a successful lawsuit based on what’s in the video since it doesn’t show the customer being denied travel.
San Francisco airport has already seen ICE confrontations with passengers. In March, plainclothes ICE agents detained a woman near gate E2 in Terminal 3 while a young girl cried nearby.
Several commenters claim that they recognize the employee from their own unpleasant encounters with United at the airport. One says the woman previously refused to check him in through the 1K line because she assumed he didn’t have elite status. Another says she had reported the same woman before. Every airline has these employees of course, in my experience American’s was Matt in San Diego.
Well looking at her I can only say for the woke hierarchy “Houston we have a problem here.”
Next time just take British Airways, they’re always out of ICE…
Oh boy, imagine the outrage if the customer made a derogatory racial comment to the “agent”. I can see the next United post how they are bothered by her attitude and has been sent to an educational 2 day course and is back on the job.
The problem is many airline gate agents that have a high school education or less act like they are the ceo of the company and own it. I would suggest recording all interactions with gate agents as discreetly as possible. For example. Have someone pretend they use their cellphone 4 people away from you and let them record. Or at the gate area sit in rows across from one another to record. Then turn it in to the company. If that doesn’t work, then social media, then the news. Every customer has a right to be treated with respect, dignity and politeness.
Sounds like Gary’s playing rage-bait ad-libs, again… (San Francisco! ICE! *black woman*)
Captain, lol!
Gee, she must have been a great agent during World Cup matches in the SF area. Maybe they should send her down to LA for the Olympics.
That is Evelyn, I use to work with her at the SFO station before I transferred to Houston. She was like that with her fellow coworkers, mean, rude and miserable. Especially to new hires trying to learn the ropes. It doesnt surprise me that she treats the customers like that. I will never understand why people who are unfriendly and mean want to work in customer service positions.
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/airline-employee-evelyn-beck-collects-her-cup-of-coffee-news-photo/1321197215?adppopup=true
Here’s a different perspective than the other commentators. The words “you don’t act like a citizen” got me. My Native American wife is brown and speaks broken English with an accent. This lady is would assume she’s not a citizen either and call ICE on her. What does acting like a citizen look like?
Good for her.
It’s time these entitled invaders got the message.
And now that flock cameras are being used by ice I hope existence becomes unbearable for them.
I recognize her as an experienced, knowledgable professional who knows how to uphold standards for MileagePlus Premier Executive 100K and Global Services passengers.
@Walter Barry — Where were you based again? St. Petersburg? Istanbul?
Mr. Short has it right. Obviously the day of “give the lady what she wants” is dead and in its place we have given power to people who lack education, training, couth, and smell bad to tell us what to do and demand compliance. If you expect good service or complain you are a Karen or Ken or worse.
(For clarification, I mean, formerly Petrograd/Leningrad, not the one in Florida…)
Her name has been published in the One Mile at a Time site, apparently she’s quite a jewel based in SFO.
Just another hood rat nothing new to see hear. Thinks she’s way more important than she actually is.
30 MILLION illegal immigrants were purposely allowed into this country with one single goal: tilt the election scales forever more by giving free welfare, housing, food, etc to foreigners in exchange for their vote for Democrat candidates. As Biden and Kamala made perfectly clear: We give you free shit paid for by American taxpayers, and you reward us with your vote. This is not a hypothesis, it’s not a conspiracy theory. Multiple Democrat members of Congress have said the ‘quiet part out loud’ by admitting that ‘we will not win another election if voter ID is enforced.’ So don’t quote me your BS about (fake) democracy and Orange Man Bad. Democrats can’t win unless they cheat. And you want to know the best part? The opening day of Obama’s Presidential Library in Chicago REQUIRED VISITORS TO SHOW PHOTO ID TO ENTER THE BUILDING!!! Massive hypocrisy. Media coverage? Zero.
@Lie, Cheat and Steal — (@Michael Mainello, you know you don’t have to pick multiple aliases.) Anyway, can’t wait for another attempt at re-writing 2020 during tonight’s un-televised ‘address.’ I’m told the drinking-game is every time he uses the word ‘vermin’ or ‘communist.’ Stay hydrated.
@Lie Cheat and Steal, thanks for picking a name that is very descriptive of you.
@1990 and @Jon F
‘Neither’ of you (fake alias by 1990) dispute the content of my post. You just default to ad hominem attacks. Weak and pathetic, like the ideology you parrot. Thanks for making my point. Your lack of critical thinking skills and inability to debate based on the facts is the nail in the coffin. At a minimum, I thought you were at least bright enough to understand that the Lie, Cheat, Steal is a direct reference to the voter fraud YOU support. Went right over your heads. Try to keep up. It’s like dealing with a toddler.
@Lie, Cheat and Steal 2.0 — Wait, now there’s two of you? Oh no… @Jon F and I have no chance now… *burp*
@Lie, Cheat and Steal 2.0: Nobody bothered to rebut your post because it is total nonsense. Despite the eternal claims of non-citizen voting your side has been almost completely incapable of producing actual examples. When you think you found something it almost certainly falls into one of two categories:
1) At one point the person was not a citizen. Later, they voted. No check if they were naturalized between those points.
2) Motor-voter. DMV doesn’t always get it right, the usual path is any new ID is registered to vote, you have humans involved. One little check, sometimes those humans will goof up. I’ve seen it in a harmless fashion: A mistake was made long ago on my wife’s naturalization certificate, not noticed at the time, only became an issue with RealID. She had to do a legal name change (and you guys always say ID is cheap–no, cost her hundreds of dollars) to change her name to what was already on everything but her Social Security records. The voter registration box was **NOT** checked as nothing needed fixing–but DMV pushed a voter registration anyway.
Thus a non-citizen who is registered to vote is not proof of fraud.
Also, note that when actual voting irregularities are detected it’s usually a Republican. Generally trying to prove they can get away with it. But your leaders do not tell you about the real fraud–because they’re the ones committing it. Mass challenges of voters close to the election (which is not supposed to be allowed) that turn out to be nothing. Voter ID requirements that in reality end up targeting the poor who are more likely to have an expired ID or have had their ID stolen (not intentionally–but when you snatch a purse or pickpocket a wallet you likely get someone’s ID along with what you’re after) and replacing it means time off work they can’t afford.
Your leaders talk of 2020 being stolen–no, the reality is that in 2016 and 2024 the Republican voter suppression exceeded your margin of “victory”. They likely were stolen.
@Loren — Well said, and thank you. Agreed that “Nobody bothered to rebut (@Lie, Cheat and Steal’s) post because it is total nonsense.” And yet, they’ll chuck it all on their preferred LLM, pivot, misdirect, and attack you personally, in T-minus 3, 2, 1…