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California woman arrested in nail-painting incident on Southwest flight

by Dave Seminara (RSS feed) on Mar 8th 2012 at 12:00PM

According to CBS Los Angeles, a California woman was arrested in late February for painting her nails on a Southwest flight bound for Houston. The woman, identified as Jeanie Daniels, was on her way to visit her boyfriend and claims that the passengers seated next to her agreed to let her do her nails.

But one of the flight attendants reportedly objected, so Daniels retreated to the bathroom to finish the job. When she got out of the bathroom, she got into a verbal altercation with two flight attendants and claims she was detained by law enforcement officials at the Houston airport for more than 10 hours before a judge charged her with profane and abusive language.

The CBS story essentially reports Daniels' side of the story along with an anodyne statement from Southwest, so it's hard to know if the flight attendants could have diffused the situation or if Daniels was the instigator.

I've actually never seen someone paint their nails on a flight but I wouldn't be surprised if some flight attendants are becoming increasingly intolerant of obnoxious passengers. These days it's not that uncommon to see passengers watching videos without headphones (especially kids), loudly chattering on mobile phones on the runway, and generally acting as though they were in their living rooms. On Monday, Gadling will begin a new March Madness series that will allow our readers to vote on which airline annoyances are the most egregious.

Do you think that these Southwest flight attendants were right in showing zero tolerance for the California nail-painter, or does it sound like they overreacted?

[Photo via Borispumps on Flickr]

Filed under: United States, Airlines, Transportation

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)

Paul Mar 8th 2012 12:49PM

Its obvious, after reading the story, that the "California Woman" was told to stop, but instead of stopping, she chose to move to a different part of the plane and continue. When confronted about this behavior, she became verbally abusive, THATS why she was arrested, not for painting her nails and not for disobeying. Sounds to me like it would have 'blown over' had she not become verbally abusive.

The bottom line here is that it sounds like she brought it on herself.

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TracyG Mar 10th 2012 8:18PM

TracyG Mar 10th 2012 6:53PM

nalchef Mar 8th 2012 6:11PM

why would you do anything that might bother other people on board is she a total idiot does she think that the smell is only going to bother the person next to her . what about three four or more rows back ........ the person next to her was probably a guy who thought it was ok because maybe there was a slight miniscule chance he could get laid. If she said can i fart he probably would have said yes of course no problem ...

Robert V. Mar 8th 2012 8:06PM

I was a passenger on a Continental flight where a young lady in the row immediately behind me was painting her nails. The ares was filled with the stong odor of nail polish solvent which especially in an enclosed cabin I found offensive. I politely asked her to stop - and she did for about 5 minutes. Once again I smelled the (flammible, volatile) nail polish solvent and this time complained to the flight attendant. The flight attendant explained to the nail-painting passenger that it was not just an issue of offensive odor, but there is an FAA regulation prohibiting open containers of flammible liquids. If she did not stop, the flight attendant threatened to bring the Captain to speak with her. This finally made the young lady stop, but she bitched loudly about it for the rest of the flight.

apekila Mar 8th 2012 9:29PM

My thoughts as well. AS far as this old lady is concerned, there is a time and place for all things and nail varnish should not be done on a flight. The odor from the polish can possible make people sick. The claim that people around her said it was ok does not hold water...what were they to do, tell her NO! She seems to be the spoiled sort that would just have done it anyway...opps wait she did do them anyway.

John Mac Mar 9th 2012 6:33AM

Could be Paul but I fly a couple hundred flights a year and many flight attendants are letting their air marshall resposibilities go to their head. They bait people into responding by being insensative and downright rude.
That being said if somebody was polluting my airspace with that paint thinner smell I'd be very upset and wondering how they could have gotten something flamable onto the aircraft.

Thomas Mar 9th 2012 3:08PM

She was told that it was offending some passengers, not to stop...

Jay Mar 11th 2012 1:30AM

Bulls******. This is not the first time Southwest and their empolyees have been rude to customers. Its time for Southwest to be put out of business.

Harry Piels Mar 10th 2012 5:17PM

Totally agree, Paul. I doubt all the passengers around her agreed to that obnoxious smell, especially in a closed up space like a plane. It's hard to believe that people can't be considerate of others even for a short flight.

Rick Carufel Mar 10th 2012 6:23PM

The line must be drawn somewhere as to what can and cannot be controlled by others. There is the issue of personal freedom. What gives anyone the right to tell this woman she can't paint her nails if she wants to. Note that after 10 hours they still felt compelled to charge her with something to illustrate their illusionary authority to control every aspect of this woman's right to do as she likes. This type of Fascist oppression must stop.

betty Mar 10th 2012 8:35PM

Seems to me that it was "brought on" by the attendants. Since when is it unlawful to paint one's nails? It's not. but more and more these fiesty gals called " stewartess" are thinking they are law court and judge. When does the crap and harassment stop? It won't as long as people keep taking it. Airlines have gone entirely too far. WAY TO FAR

The woman did nothing wrong by finishing up in the bathroom UNLESS she stayed in there way longer denying others the use of it. She was wrong "if" and that's a BIG "IF" she became abusive. I'd be curious to hear what the other passengers have to say about it first