A Frontier Airlines passenger confronted the crew on his flight to raise concerns about another passenger who was ill. The reaction? He should drive next time, and should be on the list of no flies. Hmm …
What we know about this Frontier Airlines confrontation
TMZ has the story of what happened this past Thursday on a Frontier Airlines flight from Miami to Philadelphia. The passenger in seat 25C was worried about a coughing and sneezing passenger sitting immediately behind him (in row 26).
The passenger in question asked to be seated again, and the request was complied with. At some point during the flight, the passenger in question confronted one of the air hostesses to ask why the passenger was not removed from the plane. She allegedly replied that if he was worried, he should drive next time, and that he should be on the no-fly list.
It is not captured on a video, and I would normally doubt it. However, these exact sentiments are reflected by another air hostess on the same flight.
When the man was about to leave, he confronted the crew about the situation and especially how the flight attendant had spoken to him. In the nearly 90-second video, there are two flight attendants with the captain, and the passenger tries to emphasize his concern about the sick passenger.
Instead of apologizing or getting a shutdown because he said he should drive and be on the no fly list, he said that … he should drive next time and that he should be on the no fly list should not be.
Here are some highlights:
- When the passenger starts telling what happened, the flight attendant responds “this is a form of transport, sir, you have an option, you can drive your car if it’s a problem, and you can not tell people to get off the plane if they cough or sneeze ”
- When the passenger tells his version of events and asks if the coughing and sneezing passenger should not be removed, the flight attendant asks, “why should he be removed?” and the passenger responds “because the man is ill”, to which the flight attendant responds “you are not a doctor”
- At this point the flight attendant says to the passenger ‘you do not have your mask on well either’, to which the passenger responds ‘I have two on, sir’
- The passenger explains at this point how he was told to drive his car and be on the no-fly list; at that point this other flight attendant says: “you have to be on the list without flying, you really have to be”
- When the passenger asks why he should be on the no-fly list, the flight attendant responds “because you let someone kick off for sneezing and coughing”
You can watch the video here yourself:
I take this Frontier Airlines situation into account
I have a few different thoughts on this.
In the first place, we do not know how the passenger behaved during the flight. Did he just bring it to the flight attendant’s attention once or twice? Or did he become aggressive, raise it a dozen times, or ask to stop, but not? I would say that the guy looks extraordinarily calm in the video, far more than virtually any other airplane confrontation you see on tape.
Next, the flight attendants need to act more professionally. They absolutely do not have to tell a passenger that they should drive next time, or that they should be on the no-fly list. It is just unsolicited and shows a lack of ability to decalcify situations.
I’m not sure the airline did anything wrong by not removing this passenger, but:
- During check-in, Frontier Airlines requires passengers to acknowledge that they have no coronavirus symptoms and that they have not yet been in contact with anyone doing so.
- Frontier Airlines does temperature control at the gate (I do not suggest it is useful, but it is worth pointing out, as Frontier is one of the few US airlines that does)
- Obviously we do not know how bad the cough and sneeze were, but in general I would not think that this is sufficient reason to kick someone off a plane, because there are many people who sneeze due to allergies, etc.
Even if airlines take precautions, at the end of the day there will be hundreds of thousands of people flying into the US every day, and there will be people who are not good at wearing masks, and there will be people who look sick. , and yes, there will even be quite a few people who have coronavirus. Airlines will never be able to weed all the passengers.
Frontier Airlines A321
Bottom line
A Frontier Airlines passenger has asked to be resumed when someone immediately coughs behind him and sneezes repeatedly. The man later again expressed his concern to the crew and was told that he should drive next time, and that he should be on the flight list. When he then expressed concern about other crew members about the way he was treated, they said the same thing.
I’m not sure if the crew did anything wrong not to remove the seemingly sick passenger (we just do not know enough), but they would certainly have been able to act more professionally towards this man.
Although the FAA has said it will adopt a ‘zero tolerance’ policy on passenger misconduct, and Delta has even threatened to ban rude passengers, I’m not sure it would be eligible.
What do you make of this Frontier Airlines situation?