On November 9, a passenger flying United Airlines from Newark to Charleston faced a three-hour delay at the airport, followed by about 90 minutes on the tarmac. And then – when the captain announced they were 30th in line for takeoff, with another hour and a half wait ahead – decided she just wasn’t going to take it anymore.
This was during the scaleback in flights as air traffic controllers no showed work while not getting back as a result of the government shutdown.
Video begins with two women in one row quietly getting up and being escorted down the aisle by crew. They’re calm. They comply. Then the camera pans back to the window seat. The third woman in the row stands up into the aisle just as a flight attendant is walking past. The crewmember stops for a moment. And the passenger declares.
I’m getting up. I’m allowed to stand up. When you keep us on the tarmac for an hour, I’m allowed to stand up. Not a problem. No, not a problem at all. Really not a problem for me to want to f-ing stand. F-ing cunts.
@haleyrose99 This woman went absolutely nuts on my flight & we had to return back to the gate to remove her. #govshutdown #newarkairport ♬ original sound – HaleyRose99
The flight attendant stays completely composed. You hear them say versions of “not a problem” while they step aside.
Legally, of course, it is a problem. When the seatbelt sign is on and an aircraft is preparing to move, passengers aren’t “allowed to stand up” just because they’re tired of sitting. Pilots can’t push back or taxi with people roaming the aisle.
The woman suddenly realizes she’s being filmed from across the aisle, locks eyes with the camera, and goes silent. It looks like embarrassment might do what reason could not. But it doesn’t last.
In a second video, a passenger explained what the original clip doesn’t show. The woman “just loses it and starts screaming the c-word over and over and over again.” Passengers go quiet. Someone nearby tries to tell her to calm down. That only escalates things: now she’s allegedly telling another woman to kill herself and insisting no one understands her life or where she has to be the next day.
Another passenger speaks up: his mother’s funeral is the next day. Everyone on this airplane has somewhere to be. Everyone on this airplane is at the mercy of the same dysfunctional system. He’s the one with the worst reason to be impatient, and he isn’t the one screaming slurs at crew.
The pilots eventually turn the aircraft back to the gate. Authorities board. The woman puts on sunglasses, chants “thank God” as she storms off.
@haleyrose99 Storytime!!! Newark-Charleston Flight incident explained!
Tarmac delays are governed by very specific rules. Airlines can’t keep you trapped on a domestic flight for more than three hours without giving you a chance to deplane, absent specific conditions such as safety getting off. Three hours at the gate plus an hour and a half on the tarmac is miserable, but it doesn’t violate the DOT rule.
You don’t have a personal veto over the seatbelt sign. If the captain wants everyone seated because the aircraft may move, arguing “I’m allowed to stand up” doesn’t get you a pass.
Swearing under your breath at United’s (otherwise excellent) app is one thing. Standing in the aisle, yelling slurs at crew, telling other passengers to kill themselves and refusing to comply with instructions is something else. The crew will assume you might escalate further.
Another piece of trash from Gary