Gothamist: American Flight to LaGuardia Cancelled Over Booing

mdowning

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:04:39 -0500

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...

mycontactinfo

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:16:33 -0500

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.

cucarachita

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:11:40 -0500

How come they never cancel a flight due to the flight attendants' rudeness? American flight attendants are the rudest ever, makes me hate flying.

WorksInDUMBO

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:30:38 -0500

AA is the worst. You get treated better on the prison bus to Riker's. Not that I know anything about that.

suepart

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:29:21 -0500

as usual, horrible customer service!! f*** AA!!!!!

Jerky

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:31:00 -0500

Ha. I get them back by putting my Jetblue tickets on my AA Mastercard. Take that, evil corporate world!

pk4l

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:13:06 -0500

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

Kojak

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:04:43 -0500

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.

Snoopy

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:24:47 -0500

^ True True True. Unless you are flying to the west coast one can get there quicker by driving.

Steven

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:51:42 -0500

Flying is a nightmare. Better off to do a nice road trip even with the high gas prices.

Blairy Blair

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:44:08 -0500

Amtrak treats you like kings of the gutter. It's better.

KosherPickle

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:34:24 -0500

I gave up flying altogether 3 years ago.

NannyState

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:24:38 -0500

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.

Splicer

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:16:33 -0500

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.

kearnj

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:13:52 -0500

That really sucks for the quiet, polite people on that plane. But it's also very amusing.

Spiritof76

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:15:53 -0500

Too bad that "passenger bill of rights" was never passed into law.

Snoopy

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:03:58 -0500

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.

sinisterteashop

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:00:43 -0500

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.

fugothamist

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:57:14 -0500

america rules!! anyone who has anything bad to say about AA is a terrorist commie nazi -bill oreilly

Toby von Meistersinger

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:43:01 -0500

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.

Outter Burrougher

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:32:01 -0500

damn you, plk, I was going to say that!

Snoopy

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:15:10 -0500

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?"

plk779

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:10:22 -0500

I was saying Boourns.

meowster

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:09:16 -0500

totally agree with rocknrope. this won't be the last we hear of this. Good. F AA.

TimSPC

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:08:33 -0500

Were they saying "Boo!" or "Boourns!"?

mocanlagunas

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:06:16 -0500

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...

edEx

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:04:47 -0500

delta or jet blue

Rocknrope

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:04:28 -0500

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.

drewo

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:00:02 -0500

AA s/b Attitude Adjustment

ides_of_march

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:59:24 -0500

Thank goodness no imams were offended or inconvenienced in any way, that's all that matters.

JRod5417

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:56:13 -0500

That's just shameful. I avoid flying on AA and its dinosaur planes at all costs even if it means paying a bit more.

robingee

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:48:59 -0500

So they were late and they "punished" the passengers who were kept waiting? Who's paying who here?

grooverider

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:47:52 -0500

I've written off flying on American Airlines a long time ago. I feel sorry for anyone that does.

Tgirl

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:46:49 -0500

whoa- payback's a bi-atch