Chaya Raichik of LibsOfTikTok (screen capture)
Woman Sentenced To 15 Months In Prison For Punching Flight Attendant
(image via Southwest Facebook page)
News Round-Up: February 4, 2022
Some news items you might have missed: • HuffPost: After more than a year of being berated by Donald Trump (and threatened by his cultists), former Vice President Mike Pence publicly denounced Trump’s claim that Pence could have “overturned” the 2020 election. Continue reading “News Round-Up: February 4, 2022”
American Airlines Suspends Alcohol Service Due To Unruly Behavior
(photo: Quintin Gellar/Pexels)
“Flight attendants are on the front lines every day not only ensuring our customers’ safety, but are also calming fears, answering questions, and enforcing policies like federally-required face masks,” said Brady Byrnes, managing director of flight service at American, in a memo to flight attendants obtained by CNN.
“Over the past week we’ve seen some of these stressors create deeply disturbing situations on board aircraft,” the memo said. “Let me be clear: American Airlines will not tolerate assault or mistreatment of our crews.”
American had suspended alcohol service in March 2020 to reduce interactions with passengers during the pandemic. Beverage services were resumed on May 1. But now, American Airlines says serving alcohol will remain suspended for coach passengers through September 13. That’s when the Transportation Security Administration’s mask mandate for all planes is scheduled to expire. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, “Since Jan. 1, 2021, the FAA has received approximately 2,500 reports of unruly behavior by passengers, including about 1,900 reports of passengers refusing to comply with the federal facemask mandate.”
American Airlines has joined Southwest Airlines in suspending alcohol services on flights, following a recent assault of a Southwest flight attendant https://t.co/y5pD6NU8AR
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) May 29, 2021
Essential Worker Couples Surprised With 1 Million Travel Points For Honeymoons
Kaila and Erica at their Belize-inspired backyard honeymoon surprise (photo: Rachel Rodgers)
Joel and Zenile celebrate their Southwest surprise (photo: Rachel Rodgers)
News Round-Up: June 8, 2017
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| Nick Sandell – Photo credit: Frank Marando |
Some news items you may have missed:
• Fitness model (and Randy Report favorite) Nick Sandell shares the news he’s been signed by the legendary Wilhelmina Agency. Gee, can’t imagine why… 😉
• Education Secretary Betsy DeVos won’t commit to banning LGBTQ discrimination in private schools. Is anyone surprised? Show of hands? No? No? Me neither.
• As lawmakers in the Lone Star state continue to consider an anti-trans “bathroom bill,” Texas-based Southwest Airlines gives some push-back by highlighting a transgender employee in new Pride Month video.
• Debra Messing & Sean Hayes together with GLAAD urge folks to join in the upcoming June 11th Pride Marches:
• Speaking of this weekend’s Pride Marches, the organizers of D.C.’s annual Capital Pride parade and festival, plus the Equality March for Unity and Pride on Sunday, say the total number of people participating in D.C. could exceed several hundred thousand.
• Capturing the rebelliousness, the high camp, and the joy of the annual Invasion of the Pines, renowned photographer Susan Kravitz is releasing Mascara, Mirth & Mayhem, a collection of photos and interviews from over 30 years of the annual Fire Island event.
Sassy Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant
I love the humor the flight attendants use on Southwest. Much more interesting and fun than the dry, droll “same old, same old” you get with the other airlines.
My favorite line here: “Seat belts should be low and tight across your hips just like the hot pink Speedo I’m going to be wearing when I get the three of us to a hotel hot tub tonight.”
The flight attendant also threw a cocktail party in mid-flight according to the YouTube poster.
Sassy!
(h/t Towleroad)
Southwest Airlines flight lands at wrong airport
CNN reports on a bit of an embarrassing episode for Southwest Airlines:
Welcome to Branson, Missouri. Well, maybe not.
A Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago’s Midway Airport was scheduled to land at Branson Airport in southwest Missouri on Sunday night. Instead, the Boeing 737-700 touched down at Taney County airport — about 7 miles away, and with a runway significantly shorter.
The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation on the mix-up, as has the National Transportation Safety Board. But passengers were relieved the error didn’t lead to something more serious.
The Taney County airport doesn’t normally handle big jets. Its runway is about half the length of the Branson airport — 3,738 feet, compared with 7,140 feet. That required the pilot to do a lot of heavy braking as soon as the Boeing 737-700 touched down.
(h/t JMG)
“L Word” actress removed from Southwest Airlines flight
Yesterday much news was made about musician and “L Word” actress Leisha Haley being escorted off of Southwest Airlines for kissing her ‘Uh Huh Her’ bandmate and girlfriend Camila Grey. Hailey and Grey have released a formal statement saying they were told Southwest was a “family airline” when they were escorted off for “one, modest kiss”. They say they will be filing a formal complaint.
Hailey and Grey’s statement:
“We have always promoted tolerance, openness and equality both as a band and as individuals. We both come from loving homes where our parents not only love and accept us, but are also proud of who we are. We believe everyone has the right to live openly in this society as equals. In no way were our actions on Southwest Airlines excessive, inappropriate or vulgar. We want to make it clear we were not making out or creating any kind of spectacle of ourselves, it was one, modest kiss. We are responsible adult women who walk through the world with dignity. We were simply being affectionate like any normal couple. We were on the airplane less than 5 minutes when all was said and done. We take full responsibility for getting verbally upset with the flight attendant after being told it was a “family airline.” We were never told the reason the flight attendant approached us, we were only scolded that we “needed to be aware that Southwest Airlines was a family oriented airline.”
“No matter how quietly homophobia is whispered, it doesn’t make it any less loud. You can’t whisper hate. We ask this airline to teach their employees to not discriminate against any couple, ever, regardless of their own beliefs. We want to live in a society where if your loved one leans over to give you an innocent kiss on an airplane it’s not labeled as “excessive or not family oriented” by a corporation and it’s employees. We find it very disturbing that the same airline who lauds itself as being LGBT friendly has twisted an upsetting incident that happened into our behavior being “too excessive.” The above is not an apology and we are in the process of filing a formal complaint with the airline. We hope that when all is said and done a greater tolerance without prejudice will evolve.”
Southwest released this statement yesterday:
“Initial reports indicate that we received several passenger complaints characterizing the behavior as excessive. Our crew, responsible for the comfort of all Customers on board, approached the passengers based solely on behavior and not gender. The conversation escalated to a level that was better resolved on the ground, as opposed to in flight. We regret any circumstance where a passenger does not have a positive experience on Southwest and we are ready to work directly with the passengers involved to offer our heartfelt apologies for falling short of their expectations.”
Southwest released a new statement late today, following the release of Hailey’s statement:
“Additional reports from our Employees and Customers onboard flight 2274 during a stop in El Paso on Sunday now confirm profane language was being used loudly by two passengers. At least one family who was offended by the loud profanity moved to another area of the cabin. Although we have reports of what Customers characterize as an excessive public display of affection, ultimately their aggressive reaction led to their removal from the aircraft. We do not tolerate discrimination against anyone for any reason. In this situation, their removal was directly and solely related to the escalated conversation that developed onboard the aircraft.”
“Our tenets of inclusion and celebration of diversity among our Customers and Employees-including those in the LGBT communities-anchor our Culture of mutual respect and following the Golden Rule. The more than 100 million people who fly Southwest each year reflect the great diversity of our country and our Company – and ALL are valued and welcome. In fact, we’ve been recognized as a leader in diversity throughout our 40 years of service.”
“Our Customer Advocacy Team reached out to extend goodwill and a full refund for an experience that fell short of the passengers’ expectation.”
Stay tuned for further developments in this “she said/she said” situation…