Angry Passengers, Agitated Crew Face Off

(CBS)  A plane-load of passengers was delayed 24 hours when the crew for a flight from Miami to New York arrived late. The crew balked at flying after passengers became angry and belligerent. Passengers say the pilot and crew over-reacted.

It all started Sunday night when passengers say the flight crew showed up over an hour late for American Airlines flight 1901, reports CBS News correspondent Joel Brown on The Early Show. The passengers were upset and they let the crew know it.

"When the crew got there, they were late and everyone started to boo them," said passenger Dianne Chandler. "And then they closed them behind glass doors and they kind of threatened us that they weren't gonna fly because of the way people were acting. Some people got very agitated."

The crew says the passengers did more than boo. They said they were downright hostile.

"I wouldn't think they were hostile," disagreed passenger Tim Chandler. "You know, they booed because they were an hour and fifteen minutes late. When you want to leave at 9:45 - it's 11 o'clock they show up. So obviously, people are a little upset."

The crew refused to fly. When American couldn't find another crew, the flight was cancelled and the passengers were put up for the night.

"They give us a hotel and all that," said one passenger, "but the hotel we stayed at had barbed wire all around it. Nice place, nice hotel, but barbed wire around it."

They finally got to New York's Kennedy airport late Monday night, but to add insult to injury their luggage went to LaGuardia airport, 12 miles away.

[morphinebaby]

if the crew needed 8 hours of rest why wasn''t the time of the flight changed occordingly before hand?

[Meg003]

Where do you get the idea that the passengers were not kept informed about the delay? Nothing in the article suggests that they did not receive the usual announcements.

According to one passenger on another news network, the unruly passengers did more than boo. Some used obscene language and were verbally abusive to the point of being "scary".

I think the passengers speaking obscenely and threateningly should have been given rooms at the nearest Miami jail instead of a hotel.

[jpmd1]

I am appalled at the behavior of the American people. No matter what the reason for the delay, the passengers should have maintained some sense of decorum. As a physician I see this kind of impatience on a regular basis. Delays happen in every corner of life. I am sick and tired of being yelled at by patients for running late. Did they ever think that I may have been telling the family before them that their 2 year old child very likely has leukemia and needs to get to the hospital immediatly? Not an easy or quick task and not one that is scheduled for because the child usually just comes in for a fever. Situations like this arise daily and sometimes several times a day. However, there are those people out there that don''t care because all they can think about is themselves! I see little hope for our country because we are overrun with self-centered, inflexible, people who lack compassion and human kindness. GROW UP AMERICA!!!!!!!

[toldyouso12]

Think about it, maybe the pilot of our plane has a H&K .40 on his hip, that''''l change your mind about getting aggitated.

Posted by ewrpilot at 11:17 AM : Jul 09, 2008


No it won''t.

1. The passengers were not on the plane, they were waiting to board. The crew always boards first. The fact they were late and got booed means no one was on the plane yet.

2. AA had plenty of time to report and explain away the delay, but they did not

3. When people want to act, they don''t boo, they may yell epithets, then they come for you--the booing is an acceptable way for us to show ire.

4. Any inkling that a pilot or others might use guns or power plays to harm passngers as if they do not have a right to complain, will not stop a passenger from getting agitated--but it WILL stop passengers from riding with that airline.

That alone, which will result in even more pay cuts and lay offs---should be something both you and the airlines and the flight crews think about. Flying is down, it will go down further for AA and others if they keep their bs up. Flying may be a privilege--but so is serving those who pay to fly--people CHOOSE to fly and choose the carrier.What has been chosen can be unchosen. AA has only hurt themselves.

[plumbly]

Why was the crew late??? Were the passengers KEPT informed as to wht was happening??? DID the airline schedule the flight crew so tightly as to not allow for delays???

Airlines forget that they are a service to their customers. Where is the PR department, properly explaining what happened and why with that crew? If they needed FAA required rest time, why were they not scheduled for rest, and a differ3ent flight crew assigned for this flight? If they arrived late, why wasn''t another crew assigned.... it''s not like you don''t know a plane is arriving late.

Poor customer service... the counter people should have been regularly informing the crowd as to what the problem was and what was being done to solve the problem.

[sharednotion]

Sometimes I sympathize with passengers (such as cases I''ve heard reported in the news about pasengers who''d already boarded, and then when there was a ground for some hours, they were not allowed to get off, and their wasn''t always adequate drinking water supplied). But this case is different. If you waited an hour & 15 minutes, couldn''t you consider that you don''t know exactly the reason for that delay, and not be a crowd giving a collective "boo" to the flight crew? If I were a member of that flight crew, I also would be leery of being confined in air flight with a planeload of such irate passengers for the full duration of flight to the next destination.

[ewrpilot]

previous post " crew should be fired, passengers should have torched the plane" What kind of sick twisted person thinks like this? It is only a matter of time before some aggitated passenger bursts into the flight deck to complain to the pilot and gets a bullet through his head. Yes some pilots are flying armed, think about that next time you get "aggitated" I don''t see rational people getting aggitated with police officers because they have a gun on their hip, kinda sends a message. Think about it, maybe the pilot of our plane has a H&K .40 on his hip, that''l change your mind about getting aggitated.

[ewrpilot]

Pilots are regulated by the FAA as to crew duty time and rest requirements. The reason they were "late" was likely due to a required rest issue. The public is too arrogant to realize this and wants to blame them for something out of their control. No other profession lives under a microscope like that of an Airline Pilot. If the Airline personel didn''t explain to the passengers the reason for the late arrival of the crew then shame on them. The truth in this matter would not have bothered a normal thinking adult. We perform a job that very few people are qualified to do, it is high time we are respected for it. To the person who says we are bus drivers? grow up and get a job you are an idiot. We take on more resopnsibility daily than most people have in their career, we are not payed to do the job we are paid to know how to do the job and posess FAA licenses that are difficult and expensive to attain. Airplanes we fly are worth hundred of milloins of dollars and the banks that own them and insurance companies that insure them only allow qualified personel to fly them. We are governed by FAR''s ( Federal Avaition Regulations) we must follow them with regards to rest and duty time/flight time limitations. So next time you get aggitated at a flight crew ask yourself if you are educated about the job they perform and the regulations that pertain to it. Then ask yourself if you want me looking over your shoulder while you are at work and looking in your bladder when ever I want to.

[beehive21-2009]

Booing the crew,is something NYers would do, The airline did it right,let em sleep it off.

[jesterbelle]

What''s the best way to fly in america?Take a train.