Posted on 10/10/2014 7:52:05 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
* First Sargent Albert Marle boarded plane wearing a jacket lined with medals
* Asked US Airways attendant if she could hang up his 'Dress Blues' uniform
* But she reportedly refused, saying coat closet was for first-class fliers only
* Outraged passengers offered Sgt Marle their seats, but he politely declined
* After fliers spoke of the incident online, social media users hit out at airline
* US Airways has since apologized and launched investigation into incident
US Airways has sparked outrage after a flight attendant allegedly refused to hang up an Army Ranger and combat veteran's jacket to stop it from creasing.
First Sargent Albert Marle was wearing a jacket lined with medals when he boarded Flight 1930 from Portland, Oregon, to Charlotte, North Carolina, yesterday.
But when he asked an attendant to hang up his 'Dress Blues' uniform, she reportedly refused, saying the coat closet was for first-class passengers only and he was seated in coach....
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
So the airline will get embarrassed, and have to fall on their sword, PR-wise. The flight attendant will probably get a stern talking-to, and maybe even a strongly-worded letter in her Permanent File!
But will this deter the next idiot from blindly following rules instead of using common sense and doing the right thing? Sadly, no. The problem with common sense, as the old saying goes, is that it’s not common. This woman is an idiot and will remain an idiot after this episode is over. And there are many more where she came from.
haven’t any of the passengers offered up her name and photo on the social media waves?
Maybe some future passengers want to educate this ungrateful twit as to why she enjoys the freedom to be as stupid as she is.
I have worked in the service industry. When I was with a major electronics retailer, we were instructed “You will do everything possible to make the customer happy, because everybody has ten friends, and you WILL make them happy at the store level, because if it goes uphill to district...it is going to come BACK DOWN ON YOU FROM DISTRICT.”
Today, within five minutes of this disrespectful incident...the entire world knew about it. And now a good chunk of everyone’s friends think, rightly or wrongly, that this airline disrespects veterans. The proper response would have been an unequivocal “We attempt to make everyone on our planes happy, and this was a bad decision that reflected poorly on those who risk their lives to protect our freedom. We apologize and will do whatever we can to make this right.”
Sent them an email stating my outrage. Hope to read their boilerplate answer soon.
CIB, paratrooper wings, Bronze star, ARCOM, AAM, pathfinder (i think), Air Asault, foreign jump wings (not sure which country), Infantry cord.
He has no devices on his NCOPD ribbon. I can’t tell what branch device he’s wearing, but with the infantry cord he should be infantry branch unless he did combat time and then reclassed. Interesting. AR670-1 has probably changed a lot since I was in....
He has been wearing the uniform on job interviews across the country while pursuing his dream to become a doctor, his family told Channel 9. They refused to comment further.
From the link.
I personally wouldn’t read too much into it. Flight attendants generally aren’t known for their brains.
I think “outrage” is a pretty strong word. There are a lot of things to be outraged about. A (potentially) wrinkled coat? Nah, not really. Dumb bimbo flight attendant, thats all. Not exactly the crime of the century. (And yes, i’m ex-military.)
Thanks.
Flight attendants not known for their brains....?
Yes, perhaps........but I think it should be MANDATORY that they have a HEART!
I see a First Sergeant and don’t see any medals. And damn, this guy has been around.
Yeah, I see airborne jump wings, a CIB, helicopter assault wings, 2 ranger tabs, presidential unit citation, the jump wings from at least 2 foreign countries, not sure what the shoulder cord is for, various and sundry ribbons. Yeah, this guy has some serious credentials.
CC
This reminds me of the time after 9/11 Joe Foss had trouble with his MOH at an airport check point because it was “pointy”. Sadly, most of society is cut off from military values these days.
brit jump wings.....looks like RECRUITER BADGE AS WELL
The big foreign wings resemble Belgium, Venezuela, Australia and Britain but the latter two have blue colration in the images I found. Or could be something else.
I’m betting the flight attendant is union, so nothing bad will ever happen to that person.
US Airways and their parent company made 1.5 BILLION last quarter.
She is a union member, but she will be ostracized for being so dense
The airline has been through bankruptcy twice. In recent years it has turned itself around by gobbling up some smaller airlines and most recently, the merger with American Airlines. It remains to be seen how long that profitability will last. From what I read, it looks like at some point, the name, US Airways, will disappear, but US Airways management is running the merged airline.
Thing is, in the media, particularly during contract negotiation time, US Airways always cries the blues about its financial condition. When there are labor contracts being negotiations going on, the personnel, particularly the flight attendants and check in agents, become impossible to deal with. They are rude, surly and miserable. When a business treats it’s customers like dirt, it shouldn’t be crying the blues when those customers take their business elsewhere.
I have to tell you, my son was a flight attendant with Delta and they could hang up that jacket is they wanted, ESPECIALLY when 1st class customers offered their space. She didn’t WANT to do it, that’s what’s wrong. I’m not impressed with some empty, CYA “apology” They’re just afraid of losing business, and indeed they just have.
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