Witnessed a very rude event by a United flight attendant two years ago on a flight from DFW to Columbia, SC.
The pilot had announced the UA flight was overbooked, that they were working on the problem and would be getting underway in an estimated 30 minutes.
Flight was delayed severely and seated passengers were asking in a very polite reasonable manner for an ETA or flight time once underway so that they could dial ahead and inform their contacts on the other end.
The UA flight attendant responded very rudely with a stern tone that it was not her responsibility to ask such things.
I stared for a moment in disbelief because the flight attendant was standing next to the people asking and looking at the back of the cabin when she responded. It was so disrespectful and it was the first time I had seen such an exchange in an airline cabin.
Because the exchange was so unordinary and aggressive, I listened intently at what the passengers said next to capture any info that might explain the nature of the flight attendant’s response. I caught a glimpse of one of the passengers to see if there any manner of dress or body language that would cause such a disrespectful response. Both passengers involved were well-dressed, clean, polite.
The questions had been presented by two passengers sitting in different rows on different sides of the cabin:
“Excuse me, can I please get an ETA to Columbia or a flight duration time after takeoff?”
The other passenger followed:
“I also need to know a flight time so I can tell my relative who is waiting on the other end, thank you.”
The passengers involved reacted also in disbelief and remarked to the flight attendant that it was a question asked politely and that it was confusing why the response was so aggressive. In other words, the passengers were just as shocked as the rest of the seated passengers that could see or hear the aggressive and disrespectful response.
Some passengers were muttering comments that reflected what I was thinking, that they had never heard such a tone and that they would think twice before taking another United flight again.
So I am biased about this incident.
I don’t see that the Vietnamese doctor had initiated violence. I also see this past history as a smear and in any event a nonviolent series of charges the vast majority of which were dropped and were not specified telling me they were likely frivolous.
I think this doctor has a strong case against United and should proceed to take their management to the cleaners,
Well said.