Southwest comments on the removal of unruly women from their flight
Over the past few Southwest Airlines stories we've gotten to know Southwest PR department pretty well, and I recently had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Paula Berg.I asked her about the purported fiasco that's unfolding around another round of women being booted from her airline's flights and she had the following to say:
"Okay, Grant – Here are the facts...on Flight: #3144 from San Diego to Las Vegas on Jan. 31, 2008, two female passengers were being extremely loud and obnoxious from the moment they stepped on the aircraft. The two Customers were yelling for service from the Flight Attendants while they were in the midst of taking drink orders, and flipping people off. For that reason, our Flight Attendants refused to potentially escalate the situation by serving the girls alcohol. The girls then identified themselves as "TSA Employees," told one of our Flight Attendants that she "would be taken care of," and continued to harass our Flight Attendants and Customers throughout the flight. As a precautionary measure, our Flight Crew decided to have law enforcement meet the flight upon its arrival in Las Vegas.
Those are the facts, but I think it is important to point out that, there are rules for flying on any airline. And, when in doubt, the "Golden Rule" is a good place to start.
Just consider for a moment, if someone came into your office or place of business and started yelling, cursing, and flipping your customers off...you'd probably do one of three things 1) ask them to stop, 2) ask them to leave, 3) or call the cops. Unfortunately, when you're at 35,000 feet, you can ask the Customer to stop, but you don't have the luxury of simply asking the Customer to leave.
When a Customer makes it clear to that they are unable or unwilling to show the most basic levels of respect for the comfort and safety of the other 135 passengers onboard, we have to do something. Our Employees have an obligation to protect our Customers, and we have an obligation to ensure a safe work environment for our Employees.
Some may question the decision of our Crew, but ask yourself this..."When was the last time you were escorted off a plane by law enforcement," and "how many times have you witnessed someone being escorted off a plane?" The truth is these are rare occurrences.
Anyone that has flown on us knows that we typically have a very fun, relaxed, and enjoyable environment onboard our aircraft. But when someone threatens our Customers or our Crews, we have to draw the line.
We have +34,000 Employees that work hard everyday to make this a great airline. Obviously, we're not perfect. We make mistakes. And, with 100 million passengers flying with us each year, not everyone is going to have a perfect travel experience. When we do something wrong, we try to fix it, proactively in many cases. But, we do not believe this is one of those cases.
If these two Customers truly have an issue with how the situation played out onboard, I would ask them to contact our Customer Relations Department. We have a team of Customer Relations Employees on hand that are dedicated to assisting our Customers (I know, because I started my airline career in that department seven years ago)."
Those are the facts, but I think it is important to point out that, there are rules for flying on any airline. And, when in doubt, the "Golden Rule" is a good place to start.
Just consider for a moment, if someone came into your office or place of business and started yelling, cursing, and flipping your customers off...you'd probably do one of three things 1) ask them to stop, 2) ask them to leave, 3) or call the cops. Unfortunately, when you're at 35,000 feet, you can ask the Customer to stop, but you don't have the luxury of simply asking the Customer to leave.
When a Customer makes it clear to that they are unable or unwilling to show the most basic levels of respect for the comfort and safety of the other 135 passengers onboard, we have to do something. Our Employees have an obligation to protect our Customers, and we have an obligation to ensure a safe work environment for our Employees.
Some may question the decision of our Crew, but ask yourself this..."When was the last time you were escorted off a plane by law enforcement," and "how many times have you witnessed someone being escorted off a plane?" The truth is these are rare occurrences.
Anyone that has flown on us knows that we typically have a very fun, relaxed, and enjoyable environment onboard our aircraft. But when someone threatens our Customers or our Crews, we have to draw the line.
We have +34,000 Employees that work hard everyday to make this a great airline. Obviously, we're not perfect. We make mistakes. And, with 100 million passengers flying with us each year, not everyone is going to have a perfect travel experience. When we do something wrong, we try to fix it, proactively in many cases. But, we do not believe this is one of those cases.
If these two Customers truly have an issue with how the situation played out onboard, I would ask them to contact our Customer Relations Department. We have a team of Customer Relations Employees on hand that are dedicated to assisting our Customers (I know, because I started my airline career in that department seven years ago)."
We'd like to thank Paula for all of her attentive work and attention she's given us at Gadling. The facts, straight from the airline, always help straighten issues out when it comes to fiascoes like this.
Read the original article here.
Filed under: Airlines, Budget Travel, News
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mar 4th 2008 @ 2:10PM
D Ward said...
I do not believe Southwest owes those girls any apology or anything else. I have never witnessed anything but kind treatment by any Southwest employee from Reservation clerks to crew members. I was not present on either flight, but I would say those girls had a bit too much to drink before boarding or were downright rude and inconsiderate and wanted to draw attention to themselves.
Keep up the good work Southwest. I will not fly any other airline as long as Southwest services my destination.
D. Ward
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Mar 4th 2008 @ 8:29PM
L.S. said...
I fly for both my job and to visit relatives, and of all the airlines I have flown on, Southwest is my first choice. The flight attendants and crew are helpful, cheerful, and quite frequently humorous, especially on longer flights. I have never had to deal with lost luggage, sitting on the plane for long periods of time before taking off, broken items in my luggage, or attitudes from the check-in agents. Like D. Ward, if I can fly Southwest to my destination, that's the way I will go!
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Mar 4th 2008 @ 8:42PM
Cindy said...
Hooray for the airlines. Ban them from all future flights!!! These dippy girls need to be taught a lesson, they are both so immature they should not be allowed to fly without their mommy or daddy. I saw both of them on a television show the other day, and they both ADMITTED to poor behavior. Any attorney that would take their case should be ashamed of themselves. Grow up girls, get over yourselves, you are 'cute', but not 'gorgeous'. ...
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Mar 4th 2008 @ 9:15PM
doug said...
I have never had a problem with Southwest Airlines.....The people who work for them are trained to deal with disruptive people.
What we have here are spoiled girls...not women....girls who are not mature and should be treated as such. If I were Southwest, I would have had them arrested for disorderly conduct and seeing how it was on Airliner in air it should be a felony. Lock them up...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
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Mar 4th 2008 @ 9:37PM
Ree said...
OK, I agree with putting these girls off the plane if they were unruly and obnoxious. I agree with putting off intoxicated passengers, or those with severe BO that can't be fixed before departure. ON THE OTHER HAND, if you watch the TV show AIRLINE ( which I do, in spite of myself ) you've got to get a little tired of Southwest employees pulling people off flights or denying them boarding. Maybe this is actually a very small part of what those roving supervisors due, but if that's the case, they should show some of the other things on the show. They just go WAY to far sometimes, such as the time they denied transport to a VERY SMALL turtle in a container ( and I mean small...the thing probably didn't weigh a pound, and didn't appear to be more than about 6" long ). They did go so far as to consult the pilot, who made the decision to deny transport to the turtle....I have never understood that. If they were willing to waive their corporate guidelines and leave the decision to the pilot, why on Earth would he deny this request?Other airlines manage to permit a limited number of small, quiet, contained animals in the cabin...that was absurd. And as for making overweight people buy 2 seats, well, I'm sorry......when you're in a business that is open to " all comers ", you take the good with the bad, the thin with the fat, the tall with the short, and the well-dressed with the scrungy. In a time when, unfortunately, over half of the people in the US are overweight, THAT'S the status quo, not the thin person. ( And while I haven't actually seen any that are obese, some of those flight attendants aren't exactly light-weights themselves. ) They need to get over themselves a little bit, too. Having said all that, I must say I am repeatedly amused at the people who threaten to sue......do those people realize what an uphill battle they'd be facing? Not only that, but most of the time the airline's right.....they simply don't owe restitution to the would-be passengers, regardless of how inconvenienced they are. On one show, I think I counted about a dozen people who demanded that the airline put them up in a hotel and/or move heaven and Earth to get them to their distination ( at the airline's expense ) because flights were cancelled or delayed due to bad weather. The passengers somehow seem to think that because they had tickets, the airline was 100% responsible for getting them where they were going, regardless. Just the overwhelming sense of entitlement people seem to have these days.....
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Mar 9th 2008 @ 12:19PM
Whit said...
My guess is that what you see on the show "Airlines" is blown out of proportion. All reality shows do that. You'd get tired of watching it if nothing exciting happened, and what is more exciting than watching people get pissed at airline workers? Well, I can name any number of things, but some people enjoy it.
Don't take reality TV as fact.
And yes, airline employees aren't ALWAYS in the right, but in this situation it's my best guess that what Southwest says is the truth.
Mar 4th 2008 @ 10:36PM
Richard Smith said...
Those two little b****es are just a sample of the way people are getting. They seem to delight in being as rude, crude, and gross to everyone around, and then think that they are 'owed something' for being called to account for their actions.
Good for SouthWest Airlines. We need more people and companies to take a stand like this.
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Mar 4th 2008 @ 10:53PM
PAM said...
THIS IS MOST LIKELY ANOTHER CASE OF "LETS TRY TO GET SOME FREE TICKETS" SEEM'S LIKE ANYMORE MORE AND MORE IGNORANT PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO "SCREW" THE SYSTEM. MY HUSBAND AND I ARE ALSO FREQUENT FLIERS ON SOUTHWEST, AND AS OTHER'S HAVE STATED, WE WILL ALWAYS FLY SOUTHWEST. WE HAVE NEVER HAD ONE SINGLE INCIDENT OF RUDENESS OR DISRESPECT FROM ANY OF THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT'S. MOST FLIGHTS THE WHOLE PLANE IS FULL OF LAUGHTER AT THE FLIGHT ATTENDANTS FUNNY REMARKS AND ANTICS. THIS AIRLINE IS THE ONLY AIRLINE WE HAVE EVER FLOWN THAT MAKES YOU FEEL RIGHT AT HOME. IT'S LIKE EVERYONE IS YOUR FRIEND OR LIKE FAMILY. SO, FOR ALL YOU "LETS GET SOME FREE TICKETS" SORT OF PEOPLE, GET A LIFE AND IF YOU WANT TO FLY, PAY FOR YOUR TICKETS LIKE THE REST OF US INSTEAD OF TRYING TO GET THEM FOR FREE, SIT BACK IN THOSE NICE LEATHER SEATS AND ENJOY THE FLIGHT...
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Mar 5th 2008 @ 2:17AM
Thebobster said...
I fly various airlines and have seen obnoxious people all the time. Add being in a crowded plane, impatience and alcohol and you have a recipe for conflict.
I would expect that informing an airline representative (the flight attendant) that you are an TSA agent would be akin to impersonating a federal agent, and these darlings seeking their 15 minutes of fame should be prosecuted for that. What would happen if the flight attendant was so busy dealing with these children that a passenger had a medical emergency, such as what happened on a recent American Airlines flight, didn't get the care they deserved?
Flight attendants have the duty to maintain a safe environment for their passengers, and I as a passenger, have the right to "quiet enjoyment" during a flight without some loud mouth passenger that is probably also drunk, interfering with my right or potentially affecting my safety, or that of my fellow passengers by distracting the flight attendant from their real duties... Also, Pam, with all due respect, please lay off the CAPS... In email, it is like shouting.... Thanks...
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Mar 5th 2008 @ 3:43AM
Rodger said...
Its amazing to me how everyone just assumes that the airline must be correct. I have witnessed a SW airline employee trying to prevent a female passenger from boarding because she did not think the female passenger was appropriately dressed. The employee was overruled by another employee, but what if the female employee had been able to use her judgement about appropriate dress. The customer would have missed her flight and had her day ruined.
In some situations, airline employees have too much authority.
Because of 911, too many people are willing to give up too much.
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Mar 6th 2008 @ 3:55PM
smithgcmc@aol.com said...
These 2 little gals, should be ashamed of themselves.
They aggravated the attendents, distrubed, the passengers, and now they want an apology? POOR
LITTLE PUNKES. I'LL KICK YOUR DAMN BUTTS, YOU MISERABLE LITTLE ROCK-HEADS. THAT ATTENDENT IS THERE FOR THE SAFETY OF ALL THE PASSENGERS, NOT TO JUST PUT UP WITH YOU 2-KNUCKLEHEADS. I WOULD KICK YOU OFF THE PLANE WHILE IT WAS STILL IN THE AIR. BYE
Mar 5th 2008 @ 5:51AM
The Pope said...
What these two little immature girls needed was to be put over someones knee and be given a good spanking. The applause from the other passengers would have been heard in the Southwest Airlines PR department - even 30,000 feet below and hundreds of miles away!
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Mar 8th 2008 @ 8:42PM
Flyer said...
Esq., huh!
Are you trying to contact the twerps and turn them into clients? hmm!
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Mar 11th 2008 @ 12:40AM
John J. Tormey III, Esq. said...
No, "Flyer-who-remains-anonymous-like-every-other-Southwest-employee-blogger-this-past-weekend".
I am after regime change at the FAA; the removal of Bobby Sturgell from office; and now, the closure of Southwest Airlines. Are you trying to placate your Southwest boss by posting that last comment? hmm!
John J. Tormey III, Esq.
Quiet Rockland
Mar 9th 2008 @ 12:20PM
Whit said...
so.... are you seriously concerned over southwest's choice of denying alcohol? They denied alcohol and the girls continued to be rude and obnoxious. As a young woman myself, I would never act that way on a plane and am thrilled that, maybe, these girls had their self important egos deflated a little.
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Mar 11th 2008 @ 5:42PM
billsincl said...
Maybe unruly disruptive passengers should be put on a "no-fly" list for a year or so. Especially if they have to be ejected.
They'll think twice before doing that again - -
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Mar 11th 2008 @ 9:19PM
Thomas Sullivan said...
The Southwest employees who broke the law and the FAA manager that allowed the infractions should be sent to prison. There is absolutely no justification for what they did. Did Southwest apologize? No, all they can do is say "There was never any danger" - that is a lot of BS. The same BS that the FAA tells us when there is a Near Miss or a communication failure in one of the towers.
Let Southwest tell that BS to the family of the Aloha Airlines Stewardess who was killed in a plane that had cracks started in come apart in mid-air. There are reasons for these inspection rules.
Hey Flyer, hopefully the next Southwest plane doesn't come apart while you are flying as a passenger.
As for me, until the FAA has a big change in Mgmt, I will be taking the train.
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