Fight or Flight: It's Crew vs. Passengers On One "Horrific" AA Flight to NYC!

By Robert Wilonsky Tue., Jul. 8 2008 at 12:15 PM

Categories: Probably Insignificant Aviation News

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A Friend of Unfair Park wonders why we're talking about those folks getting the boot from a Southwest Airlines flight when there's a far more interesting story concerning an American Airlines flight from Miami to New York. In short, notes the NYC newsman, there was a "pitched battle between the crew and its passengers." Oh, Tim Wagner ... --Robert Wilonsky

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I was a passenger of the "1908" - actually interviewed for this story. As usual, quotes were used, like the game of telephone, until it was nothing like what happened. Yes, the crew was late and passengers were inconvenienced. This has happened to me nearly every time I've traveled in the last year. It's getting worse all the time. Could they have handlerd it better? Probably. But let's keep our heads and be fair: the airlines are under tremendous stress, their employees under more stress, and things happen that are beyond anyone's control. No one deserves to be booed and cursed at for doing their job to the best of their ability. The hecklers should have been arrested, in my opinion. And while American may have caused some of us difficulty and inconvenience, they put us up in a hotel and gave us meal vouchers for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have worked courteously and tirelessly to find and return my luggage. Most of it arrived at my home yesterday afternoon, less than 24 hours after we returned home. This is far more than JetBlue did when I got stranded in Charlotte 3 weeks ago. the gate agent told me "It's not my problem that you have no where to stay." No meal, no hotel, no apology. And when we got stranded in Houson, trying to get to San Antonio to visit our very ill son, same treatment. So while this encounter with American Airlines was a challenge, it is hardly a disaster. What is becoming a disaster is an increasingly hostile public - not only in New York - everyone thinks their situation is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD. I think everyone who mouths off to an airline employee should be immediately arrested and forced to do community service in an area where people have real problems...not mere inconveniences!
I can't comment on this specific incident but to A non A must's post: I recently flew AA 1st class to Phoenix and back and found the crew very courteous and helpful. Just my 2 cents. Also, the fact that you generalize all the flight attendants as "bitches" leads me to believe you are probably somewhat of an ahole yourself.
I was on that flight. The flight was supposed to leave at 9:45 and the crew did not arrive until 11:30. Almost all the articles failed to mention that MOST people clapped and cheered when the crew got there and maybe 2 or 3 people booed. 250 people had to find another way home because of those 2 or 3 people (AND AA could have just ejected those three-since they knew exactly who they were). Also, all the other people who were on the pervious flight had made it through customs and had been sitting there for an hour when the crew arrived. Seems unlikely that the average Joe could get through customs faster than the flight crew.
Chris, really, honesty from an AA Gate Agent? Are you kidding me? I have a buddy that is a dispatcher at AA, when my wife calls and says that her plane is delayed because of weather, I call him....80% of the time it's BS. Liquidation is too good for AA.......
I didn't see it mentioned, but why weren't the customers in the waiting area told that the crew was held up in customs? I would understand that... That is the majority of my problem with any airline, is that their is little communication, and little honesty during the problem.
The Big Guy thinks this all makes sense now. The Big Guy is sure the AA pilots would lock their door and fly 167 zombies from Night of the Living Dead (They're coming to get you, Barbara! ...mwwwahhhh!") They could give a shit about PAX being assholes. The Big Guy is ALSO sure, on the other hand, that these old tired senior FA's who were "delayed" in customs were more than happy to play the "fuck you" card and tell the PAX and the Airline to "Fuck OFF". "FEAR ME!!! I AM THE MIGHTY GRETCHEN FROM KEW GARDENS!! I AM THE KEEPER OF THE MIXED NUTS AND HOT COOKIES!!" The Big Guy thinks the FA's on AA are "OK'...just "OK". The Big Guy has had some good ones, and The Big Guy has had some complete maniacal insane rabid mouth frothing bad ones. The Big Guy truthfully doesn't give a shit about the FA's, or if they are nice to The Big Guy. Or if they give The Big Guy "service" In fact, The Big Guy is kind of confused as to what "service" means, in this context. The Big Guy just wants to get where The Big Guy is going with a minimum of hassle. The Big Guy's advice to other fliers (Again!) is to: 1) stop whining 2) get your ass out of the aisle and let me pass, 3) get your shit in the overhead and let me pass 4)lower your expectations of the FA's and they will always exceed them
RobR: What, that the bags went to a different New York airport than the customers? JFK was the original destination of the customers, and that's why the bags were delivered there. LaGuardia is where some of the passengers arrived, and it is our responsibility then to have the bags delivered to the customers. I don't know why the heck that would be the worst part of this story...
Rob, The sad part about it is, though everyone wants you to believe that you have a choice, in reality, in many circumstances, you really don't, at least not without a bunch of layovers, which increases the risk of things going wrong. I personally would love to see AA just finally win the race to the bottom, where EVERY flight is 'us vs. them', and flight attendants ditch the faux courtesy, raise the white flag on decorum and dress codes, just show up with gimme caps covering 3-day old unwashed hair, and just operate the hip-mounted CC swipes as they milk/bilk us for water, sodas, peanuts, and 3-5 minutes in the bathroom. Ice is extra, even in Texas. We should DEFINITELY arm the FA's with sedatives, threaten customers with random insertion in to drinks, allow for externally lockeable seatbelts so that double-wides and their offspring are locked down and not subject to shifting in flight for the duration, and finally give them some non-lethal weapon, like maybe a squirt gun of tobacco spit, maybe even fresh-from-the-source tobacco spit, to quell any uprisings. Can you imagine what the heathen from Arabia would've thought if they'd tried to pull off their stunt with some butch cows at the helm of the front and rear galleys? At least it'd be a more appropriate theme behind the word "American Airlines".
Tim, can you explain the luggage going one way and the passengers going another? Are we supposed to believe that was a coincidence? I think that's the most fucked-up thing about this. You've lost my patronage, AA. Not that you care.
"let's call a spade a spade" uh-oh watch out John Wiley Price will want to shut down this blog for allowing such an oblivious racist remark to be posted here
A non A must: I, uh, well, um ... I'm not sure I can tell you anything that you'll believe. You have a number of salient points, and I can't argue with some of your assertions. I can tell you that we created a new customer service/"customer experience" department last fall and that they are working on improving the situation. Really, they are. I think the majority of our agents and flight attendants are nice, hard-working people - but it might not be as large a majority as we would wish. Pilot: No, for real. The flight attendants spent a little over an extra hour in Customs. I'm not going into the details, but I'm not making it up, either. The pilots were fresh, they didn't go through Customs, but the FAs were on the inbound flight from PAP.
I an sitting on something like 175,000 airmiles with AA and I don't even care to fly anywhere right now, even when its free! These stories and the statistics of 2/3 being "on-time" and given my own last experience of a late flight followed up with a cancelled return flight .. ba-bye! Bring on the trains.
Come on AA you can do better then that. Crews have their own line at customs for quick proccessing. The only time I ever heard of delays is when a crew member was carrying contraband.
As a frequent first class AA flyer, I can tell you without any prejudice that the flight crew on this airline is by far the most bitchy of all the other airlines. I can't even imagine what coach must be like. These men/women make no attempt whatsoever to be accomodating in any way. They are pissed off and you the passenger are going to get the brunt of it. The excuse that they are there for our safety and not to serve is bullshit. How many flight attendants have saved the lives of passengers when jet has gone down? Very few. American Airlines is stuck with these hags because of the union. While thousands of jobless men and women would love these jobs and would give it their all, AA as well as others airlines are stuck with these men/women, many of whom are too fat to even get down the aisles, much less drag anyone to safety. So, let's call a spade a spade and not try and make excuses for bitchy flight attendants. They are what they are. Where do you think the slogan C. U. Next Time came from. Recently, and I am sure Tim can confirm this, many frequent first class flyers are starting to take Air Mexicana when they can. Now that should tell the entire story. It is not the paying passengers fault why the crew was late. Tim, why doesn't your airline encourage customer service? It doesn't cost you guys anymore to convince these bitches to be nice? It seems the main goal of an AA flight crew is to get people seated as quickly as possible so they can all get to the galley and gossip about what the lady in seat 41 is wearing. Just calling it the way, many of us, see it. This is not an isolated case. This happens several times a day on AA. Just so happened this had a reporter on it.
The flight came from Haiti. 'Nuff said.
Wait a minute, are you expecting us to believe that a handful of New Yorkers were rude, obnoxious, belligerent and threatening?!? "No, I do <b>not</b> tink dat we wuz rude. We told da crew in the nicest tone possible which orifices dey could shove dere heads up inside."
Shouldn't the airline have a back-up plan in cases like this? An on-call flight crew that can step up and fill in. If one of the pilots had gotten sick wouldn't they bring in a new pilot? Customer service is going that extra step to make sure the Customer is happy and not issuing a press release about how it was customs fault we were late. I don't care about the other 4,000 flights. I only care about mine.
I think the biggest point is that our crew was stuck in Customs - they didn't just "show up late." So, without further ado, the statement: "On Sunday night Flight 1908, which flies from Port-au-Prince to Miami and then on to JFK, was delayed at Miami. The flight crew was delayed in being cleared through a long Customs process, and when they arrived at the departure gate, a number of passengers were upset, booing them and making derogatory comments. Knowing that in the air, such a hostile environment can threaten the safety of all concerned, American Airlines determined that it was best to cancel the flight. "We want to emphasize that on our 4,000 flights per day, cooperation among passengers and flight crews is generally positive, even when flights are full and delays occur, and that this kind of hostile atmosphere is very unusual."
Rude ass friggin' New Yorkers got what they deserved. You aren't in a McDonald's and get to bitch incessantly about your cold slow Big Mac. Sure AA has serious on-time and service issues, but boo-ing and cussing out the flight crew? Grow. The. Fuck. Up.
So the flight crew shows up an hour and a quarter late and AA did nothing to warn the crowd. Then the flight crew is not met by unconditional love. So they pout and refuse to fly. And to top if off, AA sends the pasengers bags to JFK instead of LGA. Very expensive cab ride to go pick up their bags. Is AA trying to Braniff itself to death? Well, must be time to sell AA stock short again.