United accidentally strands New Zealand man at SFO without wallet or passport

sfgate ^ | 05/24/2017 | Alyssa Pereira

[CharlesWayneCT]

I suppose you didn’t have to tell the FA, you could have just left it in your way. But I presume you wanted the bag removed.

I guess you also could have just put the bag in the aisle. Of course, it would be a tripping hazard, and the result would still be to get the FA involved.

I suppose you could have even picked up the bag and walked it off the plane. But I wouldn’t want to place a bet on who would win a court case for theft if the guy decided to press charges — I doubt “seat possession” would qualify as an exception that allowed you to claim access to someone else’s private property.

My point is that while you had no obligation to touch the bag or move it, since you WANTED it moved, there were probably obligations related to HOW that move took place, even if the only “obligation” was to pick up the bag and throw it into the aisle or another seat.

I would also be surprised if there was any actual case law as to where a passenger is allowed to place the bag, and I am interested in whether the airline putting a bag off the plane like that will even pass muster in the end, although an airline has a lot more law on their side than a passenger.

[FreedomNotSafety]

Again, there was no obligation on my part to do anything. The passenger who wished to use my space instead of his own had the obligation to stow his bag correctly. I informed the FA that it wasn’t my bag. The flight attendant is under no obligation to track down the owner of a misplaced bag. If the bag would have been in the proper space then there would be no question as to whom the bag belonged unless of course the FA is notified otherwise. The FAs are well aware of such underhanded practices and do not seem to mind carrying out the letter of the law when possible (unidentified or unaccompanied bags are removed).

Maybe for a moment you could focus on the obligations of presumptuous passenger who wished to keep his space clear for his own feet by using someone else’s space. What should he have done?

See he did not try to take my space, he did not ask, or even inform. He simply took it. I was the victim. I refused to remain a victim. Any consequence are on the thieving passenger.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Oddly, you keep arguing about doing exactly what I think was a reasonable course of action.

If there is a bag under your feet, and it isn’t yours, there are three reasonable things you can do (unreasonable being things like pouring your soda on it, stomping it flat, or stealing it when you leave the plane).

First, you could do nothing, and put up with it. I wouldn’t, but a person might.

Second, you could ask the people around you if it is there bag, and return it to them. That is what I would do, but I’m outgoing and a lot of people don’t like to interact with others, so...

Third, you could give it to the FA, and let the airline deal with it. That’s a perfectly reasonable thing to do. And that is what you did.

Note that none of those are “obligations”. You weren’t obligated to do anything, you could have just ignored the whole thing. Taking action wasn’t an obligation, it was a choice.

My objection was to the airline response as you reported it, which went along with the airline action in the article.

I can’t imagine why ANY airline wouldn’t, having found a bag like that, asked the people in direct proximity whether it was their bag.

Note that under security rules, an “unattended bag” is considered a security risk. I mean, it could be a bomb, right?

But you can’t claim that as your authority for acting, and then have your action be picking up the bag and placing it right outside the door of the airplane. Because if it is a bomb, you don’t want to blow up the outside of the plane, or the airport equipment, you want to call security and get a bomb squad.

I think, as you said, the particular FA wanted to “punish” a paying customer for defying norms and being an ass.

I just don’t think this is the appropriate way for an airline to handle the situation, especially since the situation is so easily handled by simply holding up the bag and saying “hey, is this someone’s bag”, and then “You are not allowed to place your bag under your seat, it must be under the seat in front of you”.

[FreedomNotSafety]

I think we have nearly converged. I would have gone with the public shaming route but the bag toss made me happy. I knew whose bag it was and so did the FA. If they had not hit the head they would have been available to claim it. But sometimes karma smiles upon you and justice is served with a delicious helping of schadenfreude.

BTW last week I had an unusuall carry on. I immediately asked the FA if there was a good place to stow it and she had me put it in the space behind the last seat. I would never presume to simply take a storage area without permission.