It will be interesting to hear other passenger’s views on what went down, as well as that of the attendants. I’m just having a hard time picturing one of them “slapping” the weeping woman’s phone down after she showed them the text from her husband—while the plane’s still on the runway–and no other passengers getting into a shouting match in her defense. Maybe I’m naive but as it stands, it sounds a little “not the way people behave”-y to me as related.
6 Likes
There is a defense of necessity in some jurisdictions. I don’t know if it exists in U.S. Federal law.
Full refund?!!
Fuck that! Sue them until you own their asses and then FIRE the bastards!
2 Likes
Given the demented authoritarianism extant in the entire business of getting from a to b via the air, I’m not do sure.
The airline won’t let you call 911 for safety reasons. Any other phone number, I’d be OK with them blocking it. But a 911 call should probably go through, and blocking a 911 call should probably be a crime.
8 Likes
There seems to be so much missing here. How could she not have sneaked off to make the call in the restroom, or rallied other passengers to her aid, or punched the steward, or something, anything? Definitely not trying to blame the victim here, the airline’s actions were reprehensible and they are fully to blame for not letting her make such an important call, but surely at least some of these thoughts occurred to her while she was trapped in flight with someone’s life on the line. So what happened?
EDIT: On further thought, maybe she genuinely thought that not having her phone on airplane mode would cause a plane crash? It would make sense that she would obey if she thought that it would be putting others in danger to do otherwise. If that’s the case, it’s doubly unfortunate that both her and the steward believed in this myth so intensely that it guided their actions in this critical situation.
1 Like
FTFY.
It’s like Satan’s version of the Trolley Problem. Save the husband - vs - superstition about cell phones.
7 Likes
Pretty much this.
Men are much more successful at suicide for a variety of reasons. I don’t know which is worse for her at the moment, the loss of her husband or the feeling of helplessness that she couldn’t/didn’t do anything to try and stop it. (To be fair I’d be pretty rattled by a text like that myself.) I hope she has a strong support net.
The steward was a stupid drone who couldn’t raise their level of awareness enough to realise that something serious was happening, something that needed to be brought to the attention of the Captain as per the airline policy, and instead just went on with business as usual.
The stewards were fucking assholes who deserve exactly zero understanding and should probably be charged with criminal negligence.
““The steward slapped the phone down and said, ‘You need to go on airplane mode now,’” said Mrs. Momsen-Evers.”
This sounds like it may have risen to the level of physical assault. She was likely holding the phone in her hand when this incident occurred.
2 Likes
I’m pretty sure my iPhone does interfere with avionics. When we’re waiting to take off at the end of the runway, I ramp my volume control up and down until the engines go to full throttle. Then I hold my iPhone horizontal as we accelerate, tilting it when I think we should start to lift off. It works. Well, I’ve been doing this on every flight since 2009 and am now afraid to stop.
14 Likes
To add a little levity to this tragedy:
http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/joke/blind_pilots-1420.asp
She´ll never know and always think about it though.
2 Likes
Civil aviation has been given the post 9-11 godlike powers of law enforcement and we are surprised that our drink bringers abuse their power.
These people inhabit a weird space which is pretty abusive from both ends, management and customer, and then they are effectively handed only a nuclear option to punish customers that have somehow displeased them, most customer service workers have no option at all though.
It probably doesn’t help that an airliner full of precious snowflakes with no residual sense of decorum in a sea of anonymity pushes the drink bringers to the edge.
Air hosts, stewards, attendants; whatever, work a highly sought after job. They have severe competetion for every Barbie & Ken dream job so wages are low. I believe that they are not even paid until the wheels leave the ground so are we surprised that there is burnout and abusiveness?
1 Like
I feel hands on me. Someone’s touched me, touched my front… my front bottom. I can’t believe it, I’ve gone all cold. I look around, he standing there isn’t he? That steward with the guilty look on his face. I was shocked, I didn’t know what to say. I had to sit down, I was that perturbed. Then his mate, the other one who was giving us all lessons on what we do if we land in the sea. How to wear your life jacket etc; He starts off, he starts looking at my all funny… suggestive. Now I don’t know if they’re wanting me for a twosome or something, I don’t know how they work it. But I’ll tell you what, it scared me. I was shaking like a leaf…
I copied and pasted this. It’s some of Ben Kingsley’s lines from Sexy Beast (2000)
Anyway - this came to my mind likely because I’m kind of an arse.
I believe the crew carry a sat phone to contact the airline, so yeah, the means were available for use in emergencies.
I worked as a software engineer in aviation for 12 years and and I have to agree that the authoritarianism is demented but its done that way to ensure safe operations. Only an obsessive approach to compliance will give you the level of safety we currently see in aviation.
1 Like
Her husband died for security theater? A free flight does not make up for a dead life partner, but if I have to explain that, I doubt the explanation will make any sense to you.
1 Like
I could say the same thing.
4 Likes
I don’t think the issue is whether he died or not, but that while she was in one of the worst crisis of her life, instead of receiving care and concern, she was treated with derision and a total lack of empathy.
7 Likes
