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If they allow 1 exception for someone who is stressed for any reason then that opens up the floodgates to others who may be not in the right frame of mind for whatever reason.
Whatever happened to the good old days of stuff like personal grief being just that PERSONAL as in; not forced shared with a whole plane full of strangers.
All this look at me; "I'm the only person who'se ever had to deal with the threat of personal loss and my personal loss is so unique in the annals of history, I'm going to throw one of those amazingly emotive and over the top panic attacks that impress the heck out of everyone; tissues please?"
The world's turning into a really special little place, isn't it?
You should watch the witness video; she states emphatically that the sister did NOT leave her seat, but only reached across the aisle to rub her sister's shoulder for comfort. Witness says they were reading Bible verses and praying. Then the flight attendant got nasty with the ladies, and lied to the captain, saying that they were cursing her and flipping her off.
"Ma'am I'm sorry you need to be seated with your seat belt on"
"I'm sorry, we have a situation, I'm trying to calm my sister"
"That's fine, but we need you to be seated NOW, no exceptions". "NOW Ma'am".
Woman sits, plane takes off, sisters get home in time.
There was no reason for the woman to be up during taxi, and there was no reason for the FA to be so snippy. Wrong on both sides, and to remove them from the flight was an enormous over-reaction to a situation where a little firm tact would have worked.
"Ma'am I'm sorry you need to be seated with your seat belt on"
"I'm sorry, we have a situation, I'm trying to calm my sister"
"That's fine, but we need you to be seated NOW, no exceptions". "NOW Ma'am".
Woman sits, plane takes off, sisters get home in time.
There was no reason for the woman to be up during taxi, and there was no reason for the FA to be so snippy. Wrong on both sides, and to remove them from the flight was an enormous over-reaction to a situation where a little firm tact would have worked.
Best response on this thread, in my humble opinion.
I'd side with the flight attendant on this one. She had a job to do and did it. I've been on a couple of flights where I've disagreed with a flight attendants actions or thought they escalated something unnecessarily, but in the end they need the power to make a decision to get the plane in the air to the next destination.
These ladies situation was unfortunate. The flight attendant made an acceptable call.
If someone was having a panic attack, it was probably for the best if they got off the plane and were offered medical attention, instead of suffering for the whole flight, making everyone else suffer as well. What if it was more than the woman could take, and she died? Then people are sitting there for hours with a smelly corpse that was screaming moments before.
You should really pitch this to Roger Corman. Call it "Airline...of...HORROR".
If you all take time to find out what happened from witnesses, the woman was seated.
What the witness in the linked video says is completely different than what the article says.
"While the plane was waiting to leave the tarmac, Hartman’s sister got a text message saying their father only had hours to live.
“I didn’t know if my sister was getting the same text and (I) was I thinking, ‘I need to go back and tell her,”’ Baker recalled.
Baker said when she got up to tell her sister, a flight attendant stepped in.
“She said, ‘You need to sit down,’ and I said, ‘Well, can I just sit here? I just want to console my sister. We just got word that my dad’s dying,’” Baker said.
Hartman said she started having a panic attack and the situation only escalated from there, when Baker confronted the flight attendant for not being compassionate."
So the sister was quoted as saying "Can I just sit here?" which makes no sense if she was already sitting in her own seat (which is what the video witness claims) and was merely reaching across the aisle to console her sister.
Sounds like they got kicked off for arguing with the flight attendant. When the attendant told her to sit down, she said "can i just sit here?" The sister doesn't say what the attendant said, but I presume she said okay. At which point the sister should have just sat down and buckled up. BUT she then started to lecture the attendant on being rude (which I have no doubt the attendant was being).
Don't argue with the crew. That's against the rules. They have a standard procedure to follow and are responsible for everyone's safety.
When the sister in front got the text that the dad had only hours left, why didn't she just forward the text to the other sister? Or ask for permission, since the passengers had already rec'd word to buckle up and sit for takeoff?
They knew the dad was close to the end. He was in hospice, which is where you go to die, and they were flying to see him, hopefully before he passed. So they knew the time was near.
It could have been handled better, but the sisters should have handled themselves better, as well. They're mature women, not kids. Maybe they don't fly much so don't know how it works?
The attendant should be disciplined but not lose her job, IMO. And the airline should not pay for emotional distress to the sisters. It doesn't sound like they would've made it in enough time, anyway. A sad situation.
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