This gets eventful, but takes a bit of explaining to put in proper context.
So this evening (June 2) I had the dubious pleasure of taking UX 5883 ORD-MCI. Of course, it was delayed -- at scheduled departure time the aircraft hadn't even taken off from its inbound airport -- so I got to sit around and wonder what it would be like to instead be one of the Lufthansa passengers getting ready to board down at the end of the terminal.
At any rate, we started boarding only about 40 minutes after original departure time. Did my usual time-saving "yes I know I'm in an exit row, yes I'm willing and able" spiel to the gate agent when handing him my boarding pass, and got on board to enjoy that little bit of extra legroom for my over-six-foot frame.
And... I noticed one of the FAs was a bit short-tempered, which I put down to stress + delay on last flight of the day. She seemed to be retreating into absolutely-by-the-book mode as a way of letting it out, making announcements about things like "if you can't stretch your legs without your toes touching your carryon, it is too large to be under the seat in front of you".
When she came back to do the exit-row bit I nodded and answered "yes" to the questions... and suddenly she's a lot closer to my face. Sharp, loud voice: "SIR! Regulations state that I need a VERBAL confirmation!"
So again I nodded and said "yes". Figured it's going to be one of those flights. Thankfully it's only a bit over an hour in the air, and I can just pop on my headphones once we're up there and tune her out. And I did mostly manage to ignore her.
Until we were descending into MCI, and she made the announcement to turn off electronics. I had already switched off and stowed my iPad, so I mostly just leaned back and closed my eyes. A moment later I hear her addressing an older man a few rows back of me: "SIR! Regulations require that you TURN OFF your device!"
From the sound of it, the poor guy was just wrapping something up, probably a bit confused about what "completely off" meant, and trying to figure out what to do to stop her yelling at him. Which she didn't help with, since all I heard was: "SIR! It needs to be COMPLETELY OFF!" "SIR! Tapping the button like that is NOT ENOUGH! FEDERAL AIR REGULATIONS require it to be COMPLETELY OFF!"
Followed by "SIR! I'm going to have to inform the CAPTAIN about this!"
We landed, and pulled up to the gate, and people started getting up to fetch their bags. She popped on the intercom: "All passengers, RETURN TO YOUR SEATS". People looked up, kinda confused. "I repeat, all passengers, RETURN TO YOUR SEATS! I will TELL YOU when you can get up!"
So people sat back down, she opened the door, and airport police officers came onto the plane. They squeezed down the aisle, told the guy she was yelling at to get up, and took him off the plane. A minute or so later, FA finally told us we can get up and go. When I got out of the terminal, there was a little convention of police vehicles with lights flashing; I have no idea what happened to the guy they took off, but it can't have been pleasant.
Honestly, all I could think was that this is about the clearest example of a "RESPECT MAH AUTHORITAH" power trip I've ever seen, not to mention her apparent complete inability to manage what should be a pretty simple situation without escalating it to hell. I thought about trying to get her name as I left the plane, but then realized I was genuinely afraid she'd treat that as yet another affront to her authority, and just started putting distance between myself and her realm of power.
But now that I'm safely home and beyond the reach of arbitrary petty arrests, I really want to try to do something. I'm not really a United flyer (I'm with US, fly UA/UX a couple times a year when the discomfort and delays are better than going out of my way with a connection in PHX), so don't know where I'd direct a complaint to get it heard, or if it even would be given any attention. And really, I'm just appalled at the complete lack of empathy and professionalism this FA displayed, and at how horribly it turned out for the passenger who got caught in her wrath.
So this evening (June 2) I had the dubious pleasure of taking UX 5883 ORD-MCI. Of course, it was delayed -- at scheduled departure time the aircraft hadn't even taken off from its inbound airport -- so I got to sit around and wonder what it would be like to instead be one of the Lufthansa passengers getting ready to board down at the end of the terminal.
At any rate, we started boarding only about 40 minutes after original departure time. Did my usual time-saving "yes I know I'm in an exit row, yes I'm willing and able" spiel to the gate agent when handing him my boarding pass, and got on board to enjoy that little bit of extra legroom for my over-six-foot frame.
And... I noticed one of the FAs was a bit short-tempered, which I put down to stress + delay on last flight of the day. She seemed to be retreating into absolutely-by-the-book mode as a way of letting it out, making announcements about things like "if you can't stretch your legs without your toes touching your carryon, it is too large to be under the seat in front of you".
When she came back to do the exit-row bit I nodded and answered "yes" to the questions... and suddenly she's a lot closer to my face. Sharp, loud voice: "SIR! Regulations state that I need a VERBAL confirmation!"
So again I nodded and said "yes". Figured it's going to be one of those flights. Thankfully it's only a bit over an hour in the air, and I can just pop on my headphones once we're up there and tune her out. And I did mostly manage to ignore her.
Until we were descending into MCI, and she made the announcement to turn off electronics. I had already switched off and stowed my iPad, so I mostly just leaned back and closed my eyes. A moment later I hear her addressing an older man a few rows back of me: "SIR! Regulations require that you TURN OFF your device!"
From the sound of it, the poor guy was just wrapping something up, probably a bit confused about what "completely off" meant, and trying to figure out what to do to stop her yelling at him. Which she didn't help with, since all I heard was: "SIR! It needs to be COMPLETELY OFF!" "SIR! Tapping the button like that is NOT ENOUGH! FEDERAL AIR REGULATIONS require it to be COMPLETELY OFF!"
Followed by "SIR! I'm going to have to inform the CAPTAIN about this!"
We landed, and pulled up to the gate, and people started getting up to fetch their bags. She popped on the intercom: "All passengers, RETURN TO YOUR SEATS". People looked up, kinda confused. "I repeat, all passengers, RETURN TO YOUR SEATS! I will TELL YOU when you can get up!"
So people sat back down, she opened the door, and airport police officers came onto the plane. They squeezed down the aisle, told the guy she was yelling at to get up, and took him off the plane. A minute or so later, FA finally told us we can get up and go. When I got out of the terminal, there was a little convention of police vehicles with lights flashing; I have no idea what happened to the guy they took off, but it can't have been pleasant.
Honestly, all I could think was that this is about the clearest example of a "RESPECT MAH AUTHORITAH" power trip I've ever seen, not to mention her apparent complete inability to manage what should be a pretty simple situation without escalating it to hell. I thought about trying to get her name as I left the plane, but then realized I was genuinely afraid she'd treat that as yet another affront to her authority, and just started putting distance between myself and her realm of power.
But now that I'm safely home and beyond the reach of arbitrary petty arrests, I really want to try to do something. I'm not really a United flyer (I'm with US, fly UA/UX a couple times a year when the discomfort and delays are better than going out of my way with a connection in PHX), so don't know where I'd direct a complaint to get it heard, or if it even would be given any attention. And really, I'm just appalled at the complete lack of empathy and professionalism this FA displayed, and at how horribly it turned out for the passenger who got caught in her wrath.