Sandy DeWitt
Posted on 07/05/2011 8:21:27 AM PDT by camerongood210
A Miami photographer was escorted off a US Airways plane and deemed a “security risk” after she snapped a photo of an employee’s nametag at Philadelphia International Airport Friday.
Sandy DeWitt said the employee, whose name was Tonialla G., was being rude to several passengers in the boarding area of the flight to Miami.
So DeWitt snapped a photo of her nametag with her iPhone because she planned to complain about her in a letter to US Airways. But the photo didn’t come out because it was too dark.
However, once DeWitt was settled in her seat, preparing for take-off, Tonialla G. entered the plane and confronted her.
“She told me to delete the photo,” DeWitt said in an interview with Photography is Not a Crime Saturday morning.
DeWitt, who already had her phone turned off in preparation for take-off, turned the phone back on to show her that it didn’t come out, but deleted the photo anyway.
“I complied with her wishes but it’s not something I would normally do,” she said. “It just wasn’t usable.”
But Tonialla G. wouldn’t let the issue go. She then walked into the cockpit to inform the pilot that DeWitt was a “security risk.”
Next thing DeWitt knew, she was being escorted off the plane by two flight attendants. Her husband followed.
“I announced to the other passengers that I was being removed because I took a photo,” she said. “ I announced that photography is not a crime.”
By this time, she had Tonialla G.'s named memorized, so she didn't even need the photo anymore.
Off the plane, she spoke to a Michael Lofton, a US Airways manager at Philadelphia International Airport, who told her she would not be allowed back on the plane because she was a security risk.
But even though she was supposedly a security risk, Lofton directed her to American Airlines where they supposedly had a flight back to Miami leaving soon.
However, that flight had already departed and it was already after 7 p.m., so there were no other flights back to Miami until the following morning.
“We were expecting to spend the night at the airport,” she said.
They eventually boarded a Southwest Airlines flight to Fort Lauderdale at 11 p.m.
They landed at 1:15 a.m. and had to wake up a friend to drive them to Miami International Airport, about a 45 minute drive, where their car was parked.
“Southwest really stepped up to the plate for us,” she said. “I can’t say enough about them.”
DeWitt is a commercial photographer who graduated from the Rhode Island School of Photography.
>>> Remember, a police state is a safe state!
“It is for your own good!” or the never failed
“It’s all for the children!”
With the first name Tonilla I’m guessing she’s one of Holder’s people.
“Give some Obama “stimulus money created” tax sucking incompetent trash the power and authority of the federal government and anything goes....”
You just described many of the TSA thugs that our tax money is paying for!
Hmmmn. A “professional photographer” - with an Ipod - but she can’t get the exposure right on a nametag in a well-lit airport gateway?
Bet both of them are “protected professional minorities” with a chip on their shoulders too wide to live with.
“With the first name Tonilla I’m guessing she’s one of Holder’s people.”
could be...or maybe she’s from West Virginia
“For the way she treated the photographer, this Amish woman should pay with her job.”
This woman falsely accused a passenger of being a security threat. In todays world being a security threat can land you in both legal and financial trouble. This Tonialla G. abused our air security system to take personal revenge for the completely legal and justified actions of a passenger. For that she should spend time in prison. She also defamed the photographer and caused financial hardship for which she should be sued out of whatever she has. She should also loose her job, but that is only if United wants white people to continue to patronize their airline.
I’ve had that experience on US Air. Flight attendant was very nice and all laughs with the black lady next to me.
She practically threw me off the plane for not saying yes fast enough.
FReepers keep trying to communicate the old way when everybody knows that ebonics and slang now rule.
No! It's "It's for the chil'gren. That's the way Hillary says it.
Not familiar with the general attitude of US Air employees.
If we were still in the days of rolls of film, she could use up a roll taking pictures of all the rude, unfriendly United Airlines employees.
I avoid that airline like the plague. Never seen so many flight attendants with an attitude.
I’ve flown both, United hasn’t been too bad. I’ll pay more in order to avoid US Air.
I had one flight where they called the cops before announcing the flight would be delayed. They had the cops standing behind the gate agents.
Da name is da clue!
I be callin holder, mofo!
Besides, when ain’t USAir sucked??
Sandy DeWitt
Long lost cousin of rapper, Warren G ?
They controlled 70% of our gates and it was a high stakes gamble when we told them to go ahead and downgrade PIT.
We lost a lot of direct flights. But the average air fare plunged by 30% when Delta, Jet Blue, Southwest and others moved in to scoop up the available lanes abandoned by USeless Air. It used to be that people from here drove to Cleveland to get decent air fares. Nopw people from Cleveland drive here, judging by the number of Ohio license plates in long term parking, which is operating at close to 90% of capacity.
Nothing more unpleasant that an Obama voter who still has to get up and go to work almost three years into Utopia.
These actions go far beyond airlines. Almost any monopoly based utility I have had to deal with over the years exudes an air of superiority even though the customers are paying their salaries. You understand, “We don’t make mistakes!” Only the idiot customer is at fault...Yes, even on this day did I experience this snotty, aloof, superior attitude on the part of a financial clerk toward a customer when their screwed up system once again failed, but it wasn’t their fault. Thanks for letting me vent!
Agreed! I made up my mind I would never, ever, fly on US Airways again. I’ll take a bus, before flying on the CR*p airline.
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