Racist Passenger

Theotokos

Theotokos

New Member
You just approached FL370, your cruise altitude for the 777 trip from Louisville to Paris when you get a call from the FA. She is black and she says there is a man back there making all sorts of racial slurs and threating to "lynch her like in the good ol' days". You could turn around but that would cost you more time and remember you have a transatlantic flight ahead and you haven't even crossed the Appalacians yet! Should you just go on and let the French deal with him or take him back ground where he belongs....personally I'd send him to the ground! Throw him out at 37,000 feet...but in all seriousness what would you do? Remember the long flight too.....
 
Let the French deal with him. He'd have to be doing more than just a few comments though, as racism in and of itself isn't illegal (you can't legislate what people think). So if he's making threatening comments or such, then you have something. I'd let the French deal with him.
 
Let the flight attendants handle it. If there is more than one f/a on board they can switch positions. If she is a black woman hearing racist comments is not something new to her it's how she handles it that makes the difference. Trust me I speak from experience as a f/a and a black woman. Turning an aircraft around under those circumstances is not worth the hassle. If I were the pilot I would find out if she is ok, ya know make sure that she doesn't totally dislocate his knee when she rams him with the galley cart
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I've had my share of passengers that drop by the cockpit and make stupid remarks.

Probably the worst was a few years ago when someone's child walked into the cockpit and started yammering about how suprised he was that black folks (well, actually the vernacular description) could fly airplanes. His guardians swiftly, but not very passionately apologized but I couldn't resist responding "Well, kids only repeat what they hear on a daily basis..."

The captain was a lot more pissed than I was, and was about to kick them off, but I convinced him that the best revenge was to leave them on let them stew for the 90 minute flight and then stand in the doorway proudly smiling as they deplaned.
 
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someone's child walked into the cockpit and started yammering about how suprised he was that black folks (well, actually the vernacular description) could fly airplanes.

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Wow
 
This episode sticks out in my head the most.

We had a passenger who waited to be the last one to deplane. The F/O and I are standing there with those wonderful "airline smiles" on our faces waiting for her to leave so we could get our crap, lock up the aircraft and get to the overnight. She stops and says to the F/O (who is white) "You must be so proud of how well this tar baby speaks....if I didn't know any better I would have thought she was white."
Needless to say the F/O's face turned bright red and he said "Huh? I don't get it?" She quickly replied. "It's just that most N****s sound so ignorant. " She then turns to me and says, "Did they teach you how to speak like that during company training dear?"
I could not help but laugh and say "No, Emory University"

By this time the F/O realized that he had to get in on it and asked her "How do you spell ignorant again?"

This woman actually wrote a letter to the company saying that we were rude to her in hopes that we would lose our jobs. All my supervisor could do was laugh. My F/O apologized to me so many times ( I still trying to figure that one out...he didn't do anything wrong) that I finally had to tell him to shut up an get over it.
 
Damn. You weren't flying into Mississippi were you? Sounds like something I'd hear in my wife's hometown. The racists attitudes there are only one of the reasons we really don't want to stay there.
 
Geez, if I had a dime for every time someone said, "Gee, you don't sound black", I'd be screaming at Donatella Versace to keep the noise down on my yatch anchored in Nice, France.

Stupid, racist passenger comments aren't confined to the south, Kell! I done learnt dat one real quick like.
 
I agree that this is an issue for the flight attendants to deal with unless this passenger poses a safety risk to the flight. I would talk to the lead flight attendant and have them do what they thought was best and to keep me posted on the situation, especially if it gets any worse.

Now if I were the flight attendant I would have to do everything I could from knockin that person unconcious, but I would try as hard as I possibly could to be the bigger man and turn the other cheek. Nor would I ask to be moved to work a different part of the airplane. If somebody is going to be that ignorant, I would try my best to make them feel as akward as possible by pretending like it didn't bother me.
 
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Geez, if I had a dime for every time someone said, "Gee, you don't sound black", I'd be screaming at Donatella Versace to keep the noise down on my yatch anchored in Nice, France.

Stupid, racist passenger comments aren't confined to the south, Kell! I done learnt dat one real quick like.

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Hey Doug. What's a "yatch" ?
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About racist comments - I've heard several. My favorite ignorance story is about a passenger we had flying from Jackson, MI to Little Rock, AR. Wendy N. was the FO on the flight in the Mighty Beech Airliner for Mesa/USAirways Express flight 5442.

We got a letter from this mental giant about a week after the flight complaining and I will try to quote as best as I can remember.

"The service in your airline is bad. The Stewardess talked to us for a few minutes before we flew off but then went to the front of the plane and spent the rest of the flight talking to the pilot. We didn't get peanuts, cokes or nothing."

I hear they gave Wendy a copy of that letter, framed, at a base picnic
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I would throw his @ss out of the airplane. At 37,000 feet. I have had to deal with racist comments before, and I can't friggin' stand people who are so stupid and full of hatred that they have to put down people who are different than they are. All people are the same. Differences like hair color, eye color, skin color don't really matter, we are all just people.
 
Gag and bag. First opportunity. Pray for a black air marshal onboard... Then I'd put his luggage in some conspiuous, unattended place in the terminal and let the French blow it up.
 
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I would throw his @ss out of the airplane. At 37,000 feet. I have had to deal with racist comments before, and I can't friggin' stand people who are so stupid and full of hatred that they have to put down people who are different than they are. All people are the same. Differences like hair color, eye color, skin color don't really matter, we are all just people.

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Throw someone out at 37K for racist comments?

If we threw out everyone at 37,000 feet for stupidity, this planet would be pretty sparse.

Again, while I don't agree with racism, I also don't believe you can legislate what people think. You go down a dangerous road if you start doing that. I just note their stupidity, and figure Darwin will take care of them at some point.
 
As someone who has seen more than his fair share of racism, and dealt with it, you can bet I'd want to come out of the cockpit, and smack down the person making the racist remarks.

What'd I'd probably do is be sure I was standing right there by the F/A as the pax deplaned, and I'd be itching for the chance to very subtly twist the knife in. Probably something like that was a good flight, so and so. Not too bad for a n****r and a chink, eh?
 
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As someone who has seen more than his fair share of racism, and dealt with it, you can bet I'd want to come out of the cockpit, and smack down the person making the racist remarks.

What'd I'd probably do is be sure I was standing right there by the F/A as the pax deplaned, and I'd be itching for the chance to very subtly twist the knife in. Probably something like that was a good flight, so and so. Not too bad for a n****r and a chink, eh?

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....LOL and how fast would you be on suspension without pay?
It would feel hella good to do yes. But in the end they win cause their stupidity caused you to act outside yourself. And such action could put your livelyhood at risk after paying thousands of dollars. Plus the blood sweat,sacrifice and tears to make it to the regional/majors.
I think Doug's example was best!

-Matthew

-Matthew
 
If the remarks were directed at me I'd LMAO knowing that they can't believe a negroid is flying the plane and they can't possibly be comfortable.
 
Actually, Matt, you're right.

Know what I'd do?

The guy threatened to lynch her just like in the good ole days, right?

Sounds like assault to me -- the threat of bodily harm.

So, I'd just have the cops meet him at the gate, and I'd request that he be met by the biggest black cops at the airport.

Remember Eddie Murphy in 48 Hours? "I'm your worst nightmare, I'm a n****r with a badge?"
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I agree with Tonyw, if he made any real threats... I'm pretty certain he could get in trouble with the law. Other than that, I belive the French should deal with him.

From what I hear, the French Police could be very mean compared to the US Police.... (But I'm not certain of the validity of that rumor.)

If I was that Flight attendant I'd really focus on ignoring the vulgar passenger's comments, because in all reality, he is just trolling the flight attendant to see if he can cause havoc at 37,000ft.

In all reality, I do think that should be a form of disorderly conduct that should be treated as if someone shouted something like "Bomb" on the plane. The situation could incite a small riot in the worst case scenario.

I think with the enormous responsibility left in the hands of the Capt. and Staff onboard, there really should be zero tolerance for such issues that could get out of hand at 37,000 feet. However, I may be overexaggerating things a little bit...
I'd just hate to see a fist fight break out on a plane at 37,000 feet from angry passengers that may want to lash out at the vulgar passenger.

tThere should be a law to protect the safety of the plane's passengers; as well as Staff.
 
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