How do you or do you think you would handle such a situation

wzgrza

Well-Known Member
You are working a flight, and are doing what you can to get it out in a timely manner. An issue comes up, and you have to make sure your SOPs allow it before you push off the gate, and are looking through books, and trying to get ahold of CPs, etc.

During this cluster that is brewing, an angry passenger comes to the cockpit and starts swearing, disrespecting you, and or your crew in front of the passengers on the aircraft, goes on to insult you personally, and suggests to you how you should be doing your job, and what you should be doing.

You are the pilot in command.

How do you respond?


What in your opinion are grounds to have such a passenger removed from the flight? How far do you let a passenger push you, before you remove them from your flight? I am not referring to venting about he airline, and the operation. I am talking about disrespectful, insulting, and profane comments, aimed at you, or your crew, and the job you are doing.

If anyone has any experiences, or heard of situations such as these, feel free to post them as well.
 
What they say to me is pretty irrelevant, honestly. I don't care what a nutjob's opinion of me is, and I'm not enough of an ego-maniac to care if someone is particularly disrespectful. My main issue would be that a passenger has entered the flight deck without permission or invitation.

I'd politely state that they need to leave the flight deck and return to their seat, along with a warning that any verbal abuse of crew members would will not be tolerated. At that point, whether or not they get yanked is up to them.
 
No question. He's off the airplane immediately.

A person like that is only going to cause trouble. Nothing good will come out of kowtowing to this passenger and letting him gain the upper hand on you before you even close the cabin door. Kick him off. You have a flight to operate, and should be operated knowing a crazy man isn't in row 1.
 
Tell them the complaint department is at the top of jetway. Then close the door. ;)

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I like that one.

For me, that's grounds for removal. I think I would just call ops to get a gate agent down, and (especially if the passenger is standing in the flight deck) say, "Please send a gate agent to remove an unruly passenger, and bring the airport police please."
 
I take him up to the terminal. Look around to make sure people have camera phones out video taping. I tell him that we don't have to go outside, that I'm right here. Let him bitch-slap me and then wait for the other pilot to go all "Terry Tate" on him.:biggrin:

Too soon?
 
I cannot imagine the audacity it would take to actually enter the flight deck, especially this day and age. I mean, even before 9/11, as a passenger I always knew that unless expressly invited that entering the space beyond the cockpit door was definitely verboten. To do that today? I would expect no less than being immediately removed from the aircraft, at the very least, if not a less-than-pleasant meeting with some very unhappy people in some remote room in the basement of the airport.

Anyone with the attitude that they can verbally berate a crew member (be they up front pushing buttons, in back pushing carts, or at the gate pushing tickets) is clearly not fit for flight. Thank you for playing, see you later, come back after your anger management/alcohol abuse classes.
 
I cannot imagine the audacity it would take to actually enter the flight deck, especially this day and age. I mean, even before 9/11, as a passenger I always knew that unless expressly invited that entering the space beyond the cockpit door was definitely verboten. To do that today? I would expect no less than being immediately removed from the aircraft, at the very least, if not a less-than-pleasant meeting with some very unhappy people in some remote room in the basement of the airport.


If you don't look like a drugged out hippie, they would probably assume you are a riding the jumpseat or and ASI at first.
 
I take him up to the terminal. Look around to make sure people have camera phones out video taping. I tell him that we don't have to go outside, that I'm right here. Let him bitch-slap me and then wait for the other pilot to go all "Terry Tate" on him.:biggrin:

Too soon?
Terry Tate Office Linebacker FTW!!

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This entire thread made me laugh. I would first speak to them calmly and state I understand their frustration and we are working through the problem. If he/she continues then I would warn them that they need to return to their seat. If that fails call the gate agent and WITH security. I would NEVER confront the person with an aggressive attitude you never know why they are mad. I have had this happen to my F/A. I asked the person why they were so upset and it turns out they were bumped time and time again all day long and they thought they would be bumped again if the door did not close. Once I understood this I simply stated they would not be removed and we could get on with the flight with or without them, that part was up to them. It worked out and he apologized to the entire crew once we landed.
 
Usually we hear about them from the FA's long before they get to us. Because they need to communicate with the FA's before they come up, they are either back in their seat or the gate agent is called. They most certainly DO NOT, under any circumstances, get to mess with any member of the crew. So, basically the interaction with the FAs is how I decide and I'm coming back to talk before they come up. If they get to me, first (and that aggressively), out to the jetway immediately to try and calm down because something ain't right if the FA didn't talk to them first.

My primary job is safety of flight. If I'm distracted from that, I'm removing the distraction first and then continuing the preflight. How can I help (in 10 seconds) Can't help? Here's the gate agent. If that reasoning doesn't work, I have other things to do. There are customer service people to handle the big problems on the ground, so they don't become bigGER in the air.
 
This entire thread made me laugh. I would first speak to them calmly and state I understand their frustration and we are working through the problem. If he/she continues then I would warn them that they need to return to their seat. If that fails call the gate agent and WITH security. I would NEVER confront the person with an aggressive attitude you never know why they are mad. I have had this happen to my F/A. I asked the person why they were so upset and it turns out they were bumped time and time again all day long and they thought they would be bumped again if the door did not close. Once I understood this I simply stated they would not be removed and we could get on with the flight with or without them, that part was up to them. It worked out and he apologized to the entire crew once we landed.
Being afraid of getting bumped doesn't mean you have the right to behave like a teething child. Sometimes I'm afraid the traffic light in front of me will turn red at any moment, but that doesn't mean I start ramming into the rear bumpers of the normal people ahead to make it through.

This is not Dr. Phil or Lord of the Flies. Sit down and be respectful.
 
Way back when I had the fourth stripe, I had basically no tolerance for this nonsense, and I had several passengers removed. I gave you ONE shot to sit down and shut up, and if you didn't, you're leaving the airplane. If I have to say it twice, then as far as I'm concerned, you're going to be a safety issue for the FA, and I'm not putting up with it.

But that was just for situations with unruly passengers who didn't even breach the flight deck. If someone actually came up to the flight deck and started yelling at me, then he's not even getting the one chance. He's just gone. And I probably wouldn't even give him the chance to leave on his own. He's leaving in handcuffs so he can learn just how serious it is to enter a flight deck uninvited.
 
Last night a very creepy dude stood in the doorway of the flight deck, then just started talking. No "hey guys" or, "hi my name is" and no knock. We both turned around kind of shocked, thinking he was a Fed.

Turns out he was a retired AA guy, and just wanted to see the flight deck. When we arrived, he came up again, and did the same thing, basically sneaking up into the flight deck and surprising us. He reminded me of Herbert the Pervert... :)
 
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