Didn’t even read about this incident until today. Sounds like they’re a LOT of stress and aggression involved in flying these days. I sure long for the calmer, happier flights of yore.
https://massappeal.com/delta-pilot-video-female-passenger-hit/
It does look like this two out-of-control battling passengers endangered bystanders. I think it’s tough to know how any if us may have reacted in such a violent situation.
It seems to me that all this emphasizes the need to reduce the general stress level of air travel.
that had nothing to do with delta and it’s customer service…that was the pilot’spersonal human response to those passengers who were out of control. he should have ignored them and walked past. let the police handle it. he may or may not have done the right thing but that was a personal instinct that kicked in. the problem in that video is the two women…and perhaps the pilot acted poorly but delta gets a pass on this one.
I don’t think I would have done that, but the guy hit her arm no harder than you might smack a toddler trying to run into the street. He’s obviously just trying to stop them from fighting, and it looks like he did. The misbehavior is of the passengers, not the pilot. This should not be a story about airline mistreatment, but lowlife passengers. I don’t think one can blame this on the stress of air travel, these women apparently knew each other, and who knows what they were fighting about.
busdriver11—100% correct–amen!
No, the pilot hit a woman who was on the ground already, then walked away. He has no right at all to hit anyone. He wasn’t preventing any danger, or defending himself.
She was on the ground because she was wrestling with another woman that she jumped on and knocked down, from what I could see on the video.
Did you actually see the video? Did you view it as some poor helpless woman laying on the ground, and a pilot walked by and hit her? I think most other people saw it as a Jerry Springer style altercation right in the jetbridge, with people walking by. If he had walked by without doing something, there would be videos titled, “Pilot ignores fight as toddler (or elderly woman) gets concussion in the fracas”. Most people don’t risk themselves interceding in a fist fight, but others do, and often get injured in the process.
I can’t imagine being upset by someone trying to stop a fight by giving them a whack on the arm no harder than I’d give my dog when she’s lunging for my food (and at least she’s smart enough to stop, though she’s a rather low intelligence breed), but I certainly can be horrified by a couple of morons not being able to control themselves in a crowd.
“the pilot hit a woman who was on the ground already” what does that mean? if you are pounding on a person but you are already on the ground…it is all good? I truly am curious about the logic behind that statement.
It is not his business or right to go up, give a couple of whacks, and walk away. Restrain, pull apart, fine, hit - nope.
He tried to stop the fight, and returned soon afterwards to attempt again. Do you think he just saw an opportunity to hit someone, or do you think he was trying to stop a violent fight? Are you bothered at all by the women in a violent altercation putting other people at risk for injury? Other people tried to help also. Would it have been better to just let it go, let them tear each other apart, potentially hurting others, and wait for however long it took security to get there?
It can be difficult to do the absolutely appropriate thing in the middle of fists flying, particularly when you aren’t trained for that sort of altercation. But some people will still put themselves out there and try. It’s similar to how people criticize soldiers and police officers in every single scenario, as if they are some sort of robots who must do everything perfectly, without fear or adrenalin. No personal responsibility rests with the instigator.
I saw only one smack to the arm of a combatant from the pilot, not “a couple of whacks.”
here is a different view and actually there is a third lady involved. and not only did the pilot do anything wrong he did a good job. I still stand by he should not get involved, watch until the end, he actually stopped the situation and he was actually very calm.
http://www.tmz.com/2017/04/30/delta-airlines-pilot-hit-passenger-to-release-choke-hold/
I must admit, I’ve never seen anything like this in all my decades of flying and very grateful to have been spared such scenes. There are indeed 3 women fighting in the middle of everyone trying to deplane. Wow!
Job well done to the pilot.
I am happy to say that I have never witnessed anything like these last two scenarios either @Himom. We must be lucky or flying out of airports with a more relaxed clientele and airline staff.
In all my years of flying I can think of two incidents that were odd and the first was actually a bit humorous. One was many years ago when a woman in the seat next to me threw her dinner roll at a woman across the aisle–she had an argument with her when boarding about overhead storage and did not prevail. The other was last summer when I had on a pair of strappy heels and as we were landing the man in the seat next to me leaned over and whispered “you have lovely feet.”
Neither even remotely rises to the level of the David Dau scenario or this brawl on the ramp. Really, it’s like a free for all lately.
I’ve seen youtube videos of unruly (usually drunk) people being forcibly removed from airplanes; this is obviously different than what happened with Dr. Dau. People often cheer when these people are physically removed by LE.
If someone is drunk, verbally abusive, or a danger to himself or others and refuses to get off the plane, what else is LE supposed to do?
Wait–I don’t think anyone is saying drunk, disorderly, etc shouldn’t be ejected and how that’s coming up in this thread about mistreatment. Most folks I know aren’t wanting to be forced to sit in a plane (or anywhere else) with drunk or disorderly folks.
This thread is about alleged misconduct of airline employees.
Well to some extent alleged misconduct of airline employees more often than not involves at least one passenger that is not following directives or acceptable standards of public behavior.