July 8, 2008
American Flight to LaGuardia Cancelled Over Booing
An American Airlines flight from Miami to LaGuardia Sunday night was canceled due to the passengers' collective rudeness. Fox 5 has it that a flight crew was so late getting to the plane that upon arrival they were greeted with raucous booing from the impatient passengers. So the crew decided to teach the rabble a lesson in manners and refused to work the flight for the “hostile mob.”
A replacement flight crew could not be assembled, and the passengers were put up in a hotel for the night, which was nice except for all the “barbed-wire all around it,” according to one witness. They didn’t end up getting to LaGuardia until the following evening, on a flight that was presumably marked by pin drop silence and perfect etiquette. But American wasn’t done with them yet – as one final kick in the teeth, the airline sent their luggage to JFK by “mistake.”
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whoa- payback's a bi-atch
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I've written off flying on American Airlines a long time ago. I feel sorry for anyone that does.
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So they were late and they "punished" the passengers who were kept waiting? Who's paying who here?
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That's just shameful. I avoid flying on AA and its dinosaur planes at all costs even if it means paying a bit more.
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Thank goodness no imams were offended or inconvenienced in any way, that's all that matters.
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AA s/b Attitude Adjustment
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WTF?! What is this, a grade school? Since when are employees allowed to "punish" customers who are collectively commenting on their crappy service? Maybe the passengers should "teach them a lesson" and throw up some lawsuits.
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delta or jet blue
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the passengers should find a way to sue them...
wait, I hate people who make frivolous suits... who do I hate more... AA or those people...
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Were they saying "Boo!" or "Boourns!"?
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totally agree with rocknrope. this won't be the last we hear of this. Good. F AA.
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I was saying Boourns.
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All we need is some whacked out pilot to say, "Watch this. I'll show them."somewhere over South Carolina. The airlines should just get rid of all their ugly beat up stewardesses and start all over again. What happened to the good old days when they would say, "Coffee, Tea, or Me?"
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damn you, plk, I was going to say that!
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Many years ago, after I had American send my bags go to Honolulu when I was going to Green Bay, I vowed never to fly them again (save for the return flight). I should also mention that the plane was delayed because of "problems with the heads" although I was told by someone who saw me off that they saw the pilot arguing with the ground crew and pointing to the landing gear.
It took a couple of days for them to get them to me in Wisconsin and I did get a bit of compensation. Although I did wish it was me and not the bags they made the mistake with.
Apparently they have gotten worse instead of better.
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america rules!!
anyone who has anything bad to say about AA is a terrorist commie nazi
-bill oreilly
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The era of the Pilot Diva is over but they will keep holding out for respect. Sadly, I feel for them. In their time they were very glamorous.
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Sure they were glamorous, they were paid big bucks back in the old days and were getting laid with good looking twenty something stewardesses. Same people today working at the same job.
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Too bad that "passenger bill of rights" was never passed into law.
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That really sucks for the quiet, polite people on that plane.
But it's also very amusing.
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Great. I already don't make eye contact with cops because I'm afraid they could start wilding if they detect a lack of "respect" towards them (read: deference). Now I have to do the same with airline crews as well? Perhaps booing was a touch childish but certainly didn't rise to the level of 9/11, did it? The reality is that I do enough bowing and scraping, hoping I don't piss off a flight attendant as I'm crammed into a flying tube of fuel.
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I understand these frustrations on both sides, but the way you deal with it is you find fun and creative ways to turn the mood and the situation around. That's how Southwest Airlines deals with this stuff. American should realize that for every customer you alienate, they tell 20-30 people on average about their bad experience.
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I gave up flying altogether 3 years ago.
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Amtrak treats you like kings of the gutter. It's better.
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Flying is a nightmare. Better off to do a nice road trip even with the high gas prices.
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^ True True True. Unless you are flying to the west coast one can get there quicker by driving.
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Asshole move on AA's part, but I wouldn't count them out on International Flights, which are actually pretty decent.
However, domestic flights on AA tends to suck ass. But people won't learn. Its a known fact AA has the cheapest flights between LGA and MIA so 90% of the people who were on board that flight will most likely fly AA again. As if our standards couldnt get any lower.
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Jetblue does it well too .. $99 one way ... =)
I'm in the Navy, once awhile I'll get a free flight from Jacksonville to the Air Force base in Jersey and a $80 taxi run to NYC(or one of those Chinatown buses to the city, $10) =0
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Ha. I get them back by putting my Jetblue tickets on my AA Mastercard. Take that, evil corporate world!
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as usual, horrible customer service!! f*** AA!!!!!
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AA is the worst. You get treated better on the prison bus to Riker's. Not that I know anything about that.
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How come they never cancel a flight due to the flight attendants' rudeness? American flight attendants are the rudest ever, makes me hate flying.
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My father was a commercial pilot so I grew up flying off every month on some adventure with my family. The only downside was that we had to 'dress up'... no jeans, no sneakers.. a dress for me, a suit for my brother. We often sat in first class but sometimes only seats in coach were available. I still 'dress up' to fly eventhough I pay full fare. And I've noticed the change in flying over the years ...what was once glamorous is now overrun by angry frequent flier mileage people with a sense of entitlement and the former greyhound bus rider. These people have no class. Aviation is not inexpensive, it is not a 'right', it is a option for those who pay accordingly. But because of deregulation, people treat aviation no differently than buying a bus ticket. While is does not take much effort to learn how to drive a car or a bus, it does require intelligence, technical skill and training to pilot a plane. There is a great deal of responsibility in making sure hundreds of people get to their destinations safely. There have been several incidents of mob mentality creating problems on flights, so it appears the flight crew was exercising what seems to be in the best interest of keeping everyone safe, flight attendants included as they are often the ones getting punched, bullied, crapped on and generally abused. Although I do agree that they ( flight attendants ) should make an attempt to be pleasant.
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mycontactinfo, are you still mad at your father for putting you in a dress, being the only boy forced into one? still defending him while in angry denial? no one was bashing pilots, and no one said it was a right to fly. you sound frumpy and maybe borderline retarded.
the point was that the flight attendants are aggressive/passive aggressive assholes who are a big reason flying sucks now, and this was a particularly egregious example.
funny that jet blue would be mentioned by several as an example of a better airline--anyone recall the guy being told his seat was in the restroom? or sitting on the runway forever last winter, holding everyone on the plane hostage and not even serving water...