Southwest denies emergency phone call before take off

I think an important lesson is that the pilots weren't contacted. Granted, I like FA's having certain authority and autonomy to get things done and take care of small level issues but a sobbing pax shows you a text that their husband is going to kill himself? Why are you not looping everyone into the conversation?

Anyone can transport passengers from A->B safely. It's how airlines handle situations like this that separate the men from the boys. IMO.
 
jskibo said:
Why not just make the call? Worst they will do is stop the flight and kick her off. Not like they are going to physically assault her.

And not to play blame the victim, but other article said she was out on a "Girls Weekend" trip..... Really, husband clinically depressed and she decides to go out partying........

"Karen was flying from New Orleans back to Milwaukee after taking a girls trip down south. The text came as flight attendants were doing their final cabin checks."
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I would have done that. Fine, drop me off. I'm pretty sure an airline Rep with a little more Brain and Heart would allowed her to take a later flight. Of course, anyone can armchair this.
 
Too man times the FAs are on power trips and calling the shots. And partly, that is a flight crew fault. Too many times I hear (and cringe) when in a crew brief the CA tells the FAs that if it's too bumpy let us know, we'll throw the seat belt sign on. Really? In your uberthousand hours of flying an airliner, you don't know when it's bumpy enough to throw the seat belt sign on? Or worse, the guy who briefs that if they want some peace time and aisles cleared, let 'em know he'll throw the sign on. This breeds that attitude. And then hilarity ensues when you DON'T fly with that kind of CA and we get rung up front, "hey, can ya guys throw on the seatbelt sign?" I just sit back and watch that show. Worst so far was one CA made the FA cry when he refused to throw it on and told her it was his call as a CA. Then after hanging up he looks at me and asks, "can you believe that?!" I just took one glance at him and said, "no offense, but it some of your colleagues in that seat that are responsible for this...." He nodded in agreement.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Too man times the FAs are on power trips and calling the shots. And partly, that is a flight crew fault. Too many times I hear (and cringe) when in a crew brief the CA tells the FAs that if it's too bumpy let us know, we'll throw the seat belt sign on. Really? In your uberthousand hours of flying an airliner, you don't know when it's bumpy enough to throw the seat belt sign on? Or worse, the guy who briefs that if they want some peace time and aisles cleared, let 'em know he'll throw the sign on. This breeds that attitude. And then hilarity ensues when you DON'T fly with that kind of CA and we get rung up front, "hey, can ya guys throw on the seatbelt sign?" I just sit back and watch that show. Worst so far was one CA made the FA cry when he refused to throw it on and told her it was his call as a CA. Then after hanging up he looks at me and asks, "can you believe that?!" I just took one glance at him and said, "no offense, but it some of your colleagues in that seat that are responsible for this...." He nodded in agreement.
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The worst are the guys who straight up tell them "you're in charge in the back." No, dumbass, you're in charge of the whole frickin' thing.
 
The through line is airlines, the airline experience, and the employees are full of suck. Complete lack of empathy, jaded, and fully burned out.
 
@MikeD probably has an even better perspective, but from the law enforcement angle suicides can and have been prevented via a timely placed 911 call and responding officers taking the individual into custody on a psych hold, or getting them timely medical attention if they've already hurt themselves.

This woman should have had the courage not to take no for an answer, but I think the FA violated criminal law. There are laws on the books that prohibit the prevention or interruption of a 911 call. These are commonly charged in domestic violence situations, for example.
 
GypsyPilot said:
Easy. Set the brake, let her make the damn phone call. Plan for a return to gate.

Seriously, this even has to be posed as a scenario question??
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Isn't this Being A Captain 101? Do folks REALLY want to haul a hysterical woman around in the back of an airplane after something like this?

Let her call 911, then get her off the plane, call the police, and get the woman some medical treatment because she's going to be in shock.

When did we stop treating other people like humans?
 
MQAAord said:
There's very little that the wife could have done.
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Not buying that for a second.

A related tale of someone very close to me. He sent a email to his business partner (knowing he was driving on a trip) about how he thought the business should be run, and goodbye. He then took a lethal dose of pills, not knowing that his business partner had his phone set up to ping when emails from him were received. Long story short, the business partner called the cops and they got him in time. Barely, but in time. Long story short, he would be dead were it not for that call.

This is a very tragic story, but if I had received a text like that I would have gone ballistic until they returned to the gate. While SWA has some culpability, I think the pax does also.
 
In that case, there WAS little he did, he called the cops and they got there in time. I'm all for calling 911 and getting emergency response there ASAP. I'm talking about her actually getting him on the phone and trying to talk to him. What is she going to do/say from that distance, and in a time-pressure situation.

Without having all info in this case, I think more effort should have been made to get a 911 call off. That's what the guy needed most.
 
MQAAord said:
There's very little that the wife could have done. Did she think she was going to make a quick phone call and then the flight would take off? Did she want the whole flight delayed while she dealt with the situation?

I guarantee we do not have the WHOLE story. Because only one person has been talking and we need to hear the crew's and others' versions of events.


....

Before throwing any stones at anyone, I want to hear ALL sides of the story. We don't have that .
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This.

I think flight crews, and FAs especially, are too often put into situations where they end up being the bad guys in terms of customer service in the court of public opinion. They have rules and limitations that they have to work within, and passengers are often testing the boundaries of those rules. Ultimately, they become the focal point of all of the passengers' travel frustrations because they're trapped in the tube together for an extended period of time.

If they delay the flight and/or return to gate so this lady can deplane and make her phone call, maybe other people on the plane are going to throw a fit. How long is a crew supposed to delay departure so a passenger can attempt suicide counseling on their phone (as tragic as that situation really is)? It's a crappy situation for everyone involved. There's no straight forward answer when any of the parties involved are suddenly confronted with this scenario (at least, the details we have).

I've returned to the gate to deplane a passenger having a panic attack. If it's an emergency, or there's something that absolutely cannot wait for whatever reason, tell the crew that you HAVE to get off the plane.
 
Interesting as an outsider/newbie to hear what you guys have to say both about the cockpit crew/cabin crew dynamic, as well as prioritization/decisionmaking as captains in this situation.

My gut reaction is (again, as a guy with 0.0 hours of experience in the front end of a 121 flight), if the FA told me what specifically was going on, I'd do whatever I could to help her make that call, including using whatever comm resources I have at my disposal to help. Turn around and go back to the gate and let her off, use company comm networks to dispatch 911 to her residence, etc. It seems to me the right thing to do not only as a human being, but also something good for the company and customer relations.

But without that specific information about the suicidal threat, I'd be inclined to chalk it up to someone who simply didn't feel like they needed to comply with the FAA rules on cellular devices, and I'd probably let it ride like it did. If I'm reading the article correctly, the Captain was never told about the suicidal aspect, and thus never had the opportunity to even assess the situation, much less take positive action on it.

Either way, really tragic for all involved.
 
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