<p>I’ve seen lots of people ignore that warning until a flight attendant walking down the aisle actually says “turn it off.” Did the kids in question ignore the flight attendant when he or she said that? The school’s letter doesn’t really address that question. And I have a hard time believing that the pilot decided to kick everyone off unless something like that happened.</p>
<p>interesting, what I don’t understand is how did the school conduct their own investigation?</p>
<p>I know the issue of the future flight voucher was discussed on here previously, but I wondered too, why did they provide a voucher for “their inconvenience” if they were forced to deplane due to their own behavior.</p>
<p>I have no faith in the schools version. The pilot got involved. I’ve only seen that once and I fly tons. In that case, someone was deplaned as well. But whatever.</p>
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<p>ek, I also wouldn’t expect the students to have taken flights with the school, but they certainly could have been on several flights on their own and/or with their families. My daughters knew the drill about putting phones on airplane mode/shutting them down entirely when the cabin door closed by the time they were in 11th grade. We of course don’t know if the students who were still using their phones as audio devices were this aware of protocol or not.</p>
<p>According to the report the students were in their seats when the announcement came to shut off electronics.</p>
<p>poetgrl, the pilot got involved because of what he was told by the flight attendants about the issue. I’m agnostic about the school report…but I’m also agnostic about the version of events that made the news. It might be that the students were behaving badly, but it might also be that the FAs were stressed and in zero tolerance mode, and an otherwise minor situation escalated.</p>
<p>I’m very glad that the school report emphasizes that this was NOT in any way anti-semitic. Hoping that whatever student(s) reached for that card have learned that you don’t throw those kind of accusations around lightly.</p>
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<p>Indeed. Moreover, considering the comments from chaperones, school admins, and some students…count me in as one who is dubious about that report’s reliability as an objective accurate description of the events. </p>
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<p>As covered in previous comments…most likely to safeguard themselves from any potential litigation as the vouchers could be considered a form of “settlement” which undercuts the deplaned individuals’ standing to bring a suit in court.</p>
<p>The school’s report flagged my bs meter. They are reporting the opinion of the students and chaperones as if they are facts. I wonder how many other passengers they actually talked to, and what they left out. They have no information from the flight crew or the airline, and they are reporting a completely biased, one sided report. So much bs in this.</p>
<p>I don’t automatically support flight attendants, because occasionally they can be heavy handed and they can really irritate me. So I consider myself rather unbiased.</p>
<p>First off, to claim that AirTran actually overbooked by at least 50 seats is ridiculous. What airline overbooks by over 40% of their seats? No way. It is possible that many people were on standby, if they were booked on later flights and were trying to get on an earlier one, or there were probably many jumpseaters trying to get to Atlanta for work, or employees trying to get a ride. But to make the implication that the kids were thrown off to accomodate standbys? Ridiculous. That would be very time consuming, expensive, and there would be nobody hanging around by the airplane still trying to get the seat after they’ve already loaded the full airplane. They’re gone, getting a cup of coffee. They aren’t waiting for people to be tossed of the plane so they can get a seat.</p>
<p>And they certainly aren’t going to kick the kids off the flight because they are worried about a late departure. That would cause one. There’s a lot more to this story than the flight attendants making a couple of announcements 20 min prior, then kicking them off the flight. From the chaperones own words, the kids weren’t acting THAT bad.</p>
<p>Another thing in the report…the school said they didn’t know if the aircrew had the legal authority to deplane the students or not. Really. What planet are they on, anyways? They think the captain just might not have the legal authority to remove a passenger? There’s a problem right there, if they can’t even understand that.</p>
<p>To me, the report sounds as if they decided what to write first and went around to find “facts” that will fit their version of story. To make it convincing, bring out a few dirty laundries on the airline as well. Don’t you hate people like that?</p>
<p>Wasn’t this flight really early in the morning,like around 3? How many people are flying at that time of day that there would be 50 people overbooked? I just don’t see the pilot throwing this many people off a plane lightly. He knows he is making a headache for himself.</p>
<p>^^I agree. Last night I wrote a point by point rebuttal to their report but lost it in cyberspace when I tried to post it. Argh. So a quick hit on the highlights-</p>
<p>The report seems to want to place blame for the fact that the chaperones were at a distance from most of the group, but airlines seat group passengers in the order of the list of names they’re given. The chaperones could easily have switched boarding passes with students so that they were distributed around the plane.</p>
<p>The report makes it clear that the flight attendants gave a first announcement, spoke with at least one kid personally and then gave a second announcement. After the second announcement there were kids still not in compliance.</p>
<p>The report seemed to fault the airlines for for not doing a number of things that are most likely against airline regulations, such as allowing the chaperones to be in the aisles as the plane leaves the gate and having the pilot check out the back of the plane during the time they would normally be busy with the preflight checks.</p>
<p>Whether the gate was chaotic or not would not have affected the flight crew, as they wouldn’t have been there to see any chaos. The 50 passengers on standby are likewise irrelevant to the behavior of the crew. SW has always had a standby culture. It’s quite common for fliers to arrive at the airport with the required hour to spare, then put their name in for the first flight out in hopes of flying early. I’ve done it myself.</p>
<p>The fact that students weren’t talking on their phones doesn’t mean much. As any parent of teenagers will tell you kids don’t use their phones to talk much. What they do is text and send video and photos ala Snapchap or Vine. They had a planeful of friends to be communicating with. The report doesn’t address this, which makes me think the Rabbi’s ideas about how teens use cell phones is outdated.</p>
<p>A relative of mine was thrown off a plane by an out-of-control flight attendant who was angry that he–as well as a few other people, apparently–asked if something could be done about the malfunctioning PA system in their section, which was so loud that it was literally painful. People were actually holding their hands over their ears. This person can be a bit of a PIA, but I was convinced that the treatment was unwarranted because ALL of the surrounding passengers pressed their business cards or names and addresses on the accompanying relative who was left behind, without being solicited to do so. They all thought that a complaint should be filed.</p>
<p>It is quite possible that the flight attendant over-reacted, but this “investigation” sounds rather self-serving to me.</p>
<p>BTW, I was under the apparently mistaken impression that putting one’s phone on “airplane mode” was good enough, especially if it was put away and not being used. I guess not.</p>
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<p>When I flew to get to/from college, the flight crews would remind the passengers to completely shut off all electronics…including cassette walkmans. Keep in mind this was in the mid-late '90s.</p>
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It’s still the rule, at least since this February. I even have to turn off my e-book, even though it doesn’t have 3G or wi-fi internet access (I can only add books to it by attaching it to my computer with a cord).</p>
<p>Airplane mode is acceptable only during the flight, not on takeoff or landing.</p>
<p>After reading the bit in the " investigation" about how * fabulous* the students are - what with their community service hours and all, I had a hard time taking it seriously. ( & how is that even relevant? ) 
Where are the unbiased interviews with passengers not connected with the school?
Where is the apology from the school to the other passengers?
(& I also doubt there were 50 people waiting standby for the passengers to be taken off the plane @ 3AM @@)</p>
<p>They can’t just take everyones word that their phone is turned off - it wont kill them to put it away for twenty minutes will it? ( really- it won’t) ;)</p>
<p>When dealing with a large group of teens, you need to start strict, because if you don’t it can go off the rails quickly. Perhaps the crew overreacted a little - perhaps not. But as the people responsible for the flight-
THAT WAS THEIR CALL TO MAKE.
A friend is flight attendant for international flights with another airline- it sounds like an incredibly stressful job- I’m surprised more flight attendants haven’t gone rogue!</p>
<p>Is the airline even going to bother trying to rebut this report? It’s not as if there’s any lawsuit relating to this, or likely to be one. So this may stand as the last word, accurate or not.</p>
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Not if they’re smart. They cannot win anything in the press. The best that a response will garner is another round of “he said she said.” AirTran/Southwest needs simply for this story to die.</p>
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<p>There’s also no need to as most commenters seem to be on the side of the airline and feel the students, chaperones, and the school are trying to minimize the seriousness of the students’ repeated non-compliance with aircrew instructions pertaining to FAA regulations on operating electronics during takeoffs/landings.</p>