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Man who can't work cell phone sues Continental Airlines
Saquib Fatah of Houston, Texas, is suing Continental Airlines because he can't work his cell phone. Confused? I'll break it down:1. Fatah gets on airplane in London with his new cell phone.
2. Captain makes the usual "turn off all electronic devices" announcement and the plane begins to taxi.
3. "BEEP BEEP BEEP!" from Fatah's phone.
4. A stewardess asks Fatah to "kill the phone." He appears to do so. Taxiing continues ...
5. "BEEP BEEP BEEP!"
6. Everything goes to Hell.
After the phone went off the second time, Fatah states in his lawsuit that "the Continental Airlines stewardess used degrading and insulting language, and then offloaded him and his luggage, and handed him over to the British police."
Fatah was reportedly held in jail for a couple of hours, then sent along his not-so-merry way. A week later, Fatah arrived at the airport to try to go home to Houston again, but Continental turned him away at the check-in, saying he was "undesirable." Ouch. Fatah bought a ticket on British Airways, flew home, and called his lawyer Ali Ahmed.
Ahmed has yet to serve the lawsuit, but if he's already talking to the press about it, chances are he has every intention of doing so.
[via Houston Press Blogs]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ed Feb 26th 2009 4:18PM
This site recently had a 4-pg. tantrum from a flight attendant who complained that she had developed back problems, migraines, leg pains, from hoisting wheeled luggage that weighed more than she does, into the overhead bins, for women who didn't want to chip a nail. My first question was how they got it onto the plane in the first place if it obviously didn't fit whatever measuring template ("Does It Fit?") her airline uses for carry-ons. I'd like to present the other side of the coin: I carry only a dufflebag about 12x12x24 inches; boarding, I passed, and greeted, the attendant with it in one hand, and my cane in the other. Once seated, I found it was about an inch too tall to fit under the seat (It's always fit every measuring template). The same attendant came by, and told me I had to put it in the overhead; I'm disabled, and buckled into the middle seat; told her it's physically painful for me to hoist myself out of a chair, and asked if she could toss it up for me. "Huh-uh", and she walked away. The man sitting on the aisle, smaller than she was, possibly afraid I might fall on him, or maybe just a little more compassionate, bounced out of his seat, tossed it up, and sat back down, giving me better service than the airline; it took him maybe 20 seconds, start to finish.
Shawn Feb 26th 2009 4:25PM
Doesn't a business have the right to refuse service to anyone? He's a problem customer in that his incompetence wastes the airlines time and money. Since they are not a public service, they should be allowed to not sell him a ticket in the future.
That said, a good attendant would have asked what the problem was at which point I hope he would admit to not knowing how to turn off his phone. So then a 9 year old kid next to him could teach him how.
So really, all things considered I blame him for not flagging down an attendant and pointing out how he needed help to comply. And I would not sell him a ticket in the future either.