Pilot orders man to sit in bathroom for flight

B

bevo_daddy

500+ Posts
The Link

He's suing for $2 million and I don't blame him. This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I don't think I would ever take that from a pilot
 
I'd be interested to hear the other side of the story. This just doesn't sound right to me.

Coming from a family with more than one airline pilot and a flight attendant, I can tell you that by and large, airline crews follow FAA in-flight rules very, very closely. Not doing so can cost them their careers.
 
The article makes it sound as if the flight attendant were working the flight. But that's pretty unlikely. A uniformed flight attendant would not have been sitting in a passenger seat unless she was commuting or deadheading -- and even then, only if there were empty seats on the flight (and this flight was full). So she would have been sitting in the jumpseat regardless (something they do all the time, uncomfortable or not).

And I'm sorry, but I just don't buy a pilot leaving the cockpit mid-flight to tell a passenger to go sit in the bathroom. Pilots leave the cockpit for 1) a passenger emergency and 2) to relieve themselves in the lavatory. That's it.

The whole story sounds pretty implausible to me.
 
I normally don't take the plaintiff's side, but he sure did include alot of details. Maybe it did happen. Maybe the stewardess was complaining, who knows.
 
He was in coach, whats the difference. At least he had some leg room in the shitter.

Either way, there is no way that is the whole story.
 
Um... no seat belts? Banging around in a confined space during turbulence? That's how different.

That being said: there is more to this story. I don't buy it.
 
From the story I read it sounds like the pilot was pissed he was using a friend's, who is an airline employee, free ride. The stewardess was not working the flight but said she would sit in the jumpseat. It did not say whether or not she was deadheading back home just that she was flying on the free employee ticket too which is always a standby. She complained and the pilot made him give her his seat. It is illegal for someone who is not an airline employee to sit in the jumpseat so he was without a seat unless he sat in the john. They hit turbulence and he has no where to sit with a seat belt and he cannot legally sit in the jumpseat.

The airline screwed up. They had more passengers on board than they had seats. Period. They were both flying on a free to employees ticket but one should have been made to wait for the next flight.
 
Here's what I think happened:

The flight attendant was not working that particular flight, but was on company business. Probably because she had finished a flight in one city and the conmpany needed her in another. That is called dead-heading, as opposed to non-revving on your way to or from home. A dead-header is on company business. A non-revver or a jumpseater is just commuting to work or is on vacation.

Deadheaders get confirmed seats because the company needs them somewhere. Non-revvers only get a seat if it's available, otherwise they can sit in the jumpseat. If it's full too, they don't get on.

There is usually an extra jumpseat in the cabin and also in the cockpit for pilot and flight attendant instructors and evaluators. When they aren't being used, which is most of the time, off-duty FA's and pilots can sit in them. If the flight is not full, they'd much rather sit in a real seat because jumpseats are cramped, hard, and small.

But if she was dead-heading on company business she is entitled to a real seat, not the extra jumpseat. She probably saw that a non-rev (the guy) was trying to get on the full flight. Usually a dead-header will offer to sit in the jumpseat to allow a non-revver on the flight if it's a non-revver that is not qualified to sit in a jumpseat. Because jumpseats are only for FA's or pilots. Gate agents, admin folks, spouses, kids, buddy pass riders, etc... cannot ride in a jumpseat.

So the FA probably offered to give her confirmed seat to the guy and she sat in the jumpseat instead since the flight was full and he would not have gotten on otherwise. We all have to commute home on stand-by and so favors like this are common and appreciated.

So either she gave up her seat to him, or the gate agent screwed her and put her in the jumpseat not realizing (or not caring) that she was on company business. At some point she got pissed off or changed her mind and bitched to the Captian about it and it soundeds like he made the bone-headed move of giving her the seat back and sending him to the lav.

1) Maybe there's more to the story

2) This all should have been straighted out before they even closed the door.

3) There is nothing in the world a FA could say to lure me out of the cockpit unless I have to take a piss. It is no longer a pilots job to deal with passenger problems while in the air. No execptions.
 
No, he was on a buddy pass.

At some airlines they are free, at some you pay a small fee. At some airlines such as Continental (On Forbes Best Companies to Work For list) they now charge $200 for a buddy pass, which is usually close to what you could pay at SWA and get a confirmed seat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

* Predict HORNS-AGGIES *
Sat, Nov 30 • 6:30 PM on ABC

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top