Lawsuit Says Shushed Flight Attendant Got Payback

You might think flying business class is always about being fanned with palm leaves while flipping through books on golf, but sometimes there are real hardships going on behind that curtain, as Lynne Meadow, who makes $395,824 a year as artistic director of the non-profit Manhattan Theatre Club, discovered last August on a flight from Rome to New York on Continental Airlines. The Sun has it that Meadow (pictured) is now suing the airline after an argument between herself and a flight attendant culminated in her being interrogated by the FBI upon landing.

Meadow says her trials began when she was awoken by attendant Chris Boone's conversation with a co-worker. She promptly shushed him, setting off what she asserts was a flight-long vendetta by Boone. For instance, she was not able to watch a movie because her armrest monitor didn’t work: Coincidence or sabatoge? So the in-flight manager set her up with a new monitor, but when she later tried to put her old monitor back in place, it snapped off its base, which infuriated Boone. During the ensuing argument, he allegedly yelled:

You destroyed airline property! There is no way this could have come off by itself. From the moment you 'shushed' me during takeoff, I knew there would not be enough attendants on this plane to take care of you. The authorities will deal with you on the ground.

Her lawyers say that reduced Meadow to tears, but Boone was pitiless, and she was greeted in New York by Port Authority police, who interrogated her before handing her over to the F.B.I. for further questioning; after an hour she was released. If Meadow wins the lawsuit she should definitely use the money to commission David Lindsay-Abaire to write a clever play about the many annoyances of first-class air travel; this story sounds like something MTC subscribers would simply adore.

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By John Del Signore in News on July 17, 2008 11:41 AM

Comments [rss]

Vargo

Chris Boone was a big asshole and a huge liar back in the day when I knew him. He was the kind of guy who could blow up at the smallest thing and take it out on everyone around him. Everyone got really tired of how he treated people. I am sure she was in the right to sue because of him. He could be very mean and a smart mouth. Good for her!

Jim1111

I work as a Flight Attendant with another airline. Also, I was a Continental Flight Attendant 20 some years ago and was friends with Chris Boone. I have lost contact with him, but I do remember him being an intelligent and logical person. He would never lie or attempt to create a situation like this. We, as Flight Attendants, try our hardest to avoid confrontations. Now as far as this passenger goes...she like many people need to remember that when you board an aircraft you are boarding that crew's aircraft. Yes, you are a customer to the airline, but a guest of that crew's. You do not give directives to crew members. An airplane is a small confined space and crew members do have to communicate with each other. She was 100% out-of-line to do that to Chris or any Flight Attendant. Chris should sue her!

NannyState

She works for a non-profit, she's paid nearly $400,000 a year, she flies Business Class to Europe, and she sues over a bad customer experience. Think they should fire her?

other_islander

If Meadow had been a Staten Island girl, she wouldn't be takin no crap from a two-bit pansy flight attendant--she'd rip his freakin heart out!

Yo.

Then again, she'd be an unwelcome guest at Jersey Shore towns. What a price to pay.

robingee

Chris Boone definitely has problems, but I agree that shushing is a dickhead thing to do. The attendant still should have acted like a human. His actions show that he most likely was indeed talking loud with no regard for passengers.

Spirit of 76

Shushing makes you an asshole. No exceptions. Am I so beneath you that I don't merit a polite sentence. Instead you scold me with a sound? Shh isn't a word. perhaps the next time someone near you forgets to use their indoor voice you should ask them politely to simmer down lest the loudest noise in the room be your screams.

Just listen to yourself. You have such a massive sense of entitlement. "I deserve respect! I demand a polite sentence or I'll scream at you!" Get over yourself. You're an asshole and it wouldn't have been any different if somebody had asked you politely. You would have just said something like, "If you don't like it, go away, bitch!" Shushing was a polite way to quiet people down in otherwise quiet environments without making a lot of noise in times past, until jerks like you felt you were too good for that.

Read the article. The other flight attendants tried to comfort the woman. Just this one Chris Boone was a major asshole. I've dealt with some of them over the years. He deserves to lose his job.

Hawk

Please stop insulting Tim Curry.

maevemealone

#26, no it wasn't at all. they were both unattractive people and his mangled missing arm was facing me, it was seriously chewed up and unsightly. When she wasn't digging in his crotch, he was rubbing it himself. Nothing about it was sexy or discreet. I felt ill.

allthewine

Tim Curry in a wig is pretty outstanding.

maevemealone

She didn't have earphones? Last flight I was on I had to watch the couple next to me openly jerk each other off and suck face throughout the entire flight. I would gladly listen to chatter for 6 hrs over seeing that one armed man digging in the crotch of his girlfriend. Yes, he had one arm chewed off.

interlard

Wow. Being paid a lot of money, traveling first class and saying "shush" to a noisy a-hole sure is a crime to many people today.

UnrepentantFenian

Shushing makes you an asshole. No exceptions. Am I so beneath you that I don't merit a polite sentence. Instead you scold me with a sound? Shh isn't a word. perhaps the next time someone near you forgets to use their indoor voice you should ask them politely to simmer down lest the loudest noise in the room be your screams.

JacqueMehoff

what is she suing for? and the flight attendant was right, some people you just know would be troublesome. gee, now who would say a thing like that?

sj

The only reason the FBI was involved is because the FBI has jurisdiction over incidents that happen in the air. Not a big deal and fairly routine for fights and other BS that happens on planes.

I'm sure they interviewed both parties to get the story ("interrogated" is a bit of a stretch I'm sure but based on the attitude of the woman as reported in the article, it doesn't surprise me that she and her lawyers would choose a loaded word like that to describe it) and that was likely the end of it as it doesn't say that any charges came out of it for either party.

The Edge

No wonder they're called non-profit -- all the money goes to these douches.

dev

non-profit theatre organizations?

hmmm...

Kojak

"More importantly, why does she make $395,000 a year at a non-profit?"

You'd be surprised. Most directors and presidents of non-profit organizations in the New York area alone can make upwards of $800k

Bubba

A.G. Cuomo should investigate how a tax exempt non-profit entity is paying this woman almost $400K a year. I bet she's got a hefty expense account and that business class trips to Rome are being footed indirectly by the tax-payers.