Third (new) United Airlines Incident

[cr47t]

Warning: the contents of this topic are not for those under the age of 18

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/united-flight-woman-groped_us_58ee2887e4b0df7e2046f8bd

 

[spoiler=quotes from article]

 

WASHINGTON― Jennifer Rafieyan says she and her 12-year-old daughter were awaiting takeoff on a United Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Phoenix last month when they watched a flight attendant seat a visibly drunk man in the empty aisle seat next to them.

 

...

 

Over the course of the next hour, Rafieyan says the 64-year-old repeatedly groped her and sexually harassed her. He rubbed her legs, grabbed her knee, kissed her hands, put his head on her shoulder and snatched her pen and notepad to add “PASIONAT NITE XX” to the to-do list she was writing, she said.

 

“That really grossed me out,” Rafieyan said. “My daughter was right there.”

 

...

 

The Federal Aviation Administration prohibits boarding “a passenger who appears to be intoxicated” and serving additional alcohol to a passenger who becomes inebriated on a plane. United Airlines has a contract of carriage that says it can refuse to board passengers who appear to be intoxicated.

 

Rafieyan claims that even after she complained, the attendant served the already intoxicated man three more whiskey drinks and a small wine bottle. He became belligerent, accused several people of stealing his passport, and then refused to sit down again until the flight attendant threatened to divert the plane and land early because of his behavior.

 

...

 

“I would like to know what policies are in place that allow this to happen,” she wrote. “FAA regulations prevent the boarding of an intoxicated person and selling alcohol to him. The [flight attendants] knowingly put a drunk person who had sexually harassed the [flight attendant] next to me and my daughter. United jeopardized the safety of everyone on board.”

 

The airline responded by sending Rafieyan four $100 travel vouchers without acknowledging her accusations or the alleged groping. “I am sorry for your family’s disappointing and uncomfortable flight to Phoenix,” a customer service representative wrote in an email shared with The Huffington Post. “As a gesture of goodwill, a separate email with four electronic travel certificates will arrive soon to make amends.”

 

This response infuriated Rafieyan.

 

“I’m sorry but I find this unacceptable,” she responded in an email to the airline. “If you review the complaint, you will note that I did not ask for any monetary reimbursement but instead answers ... I feel devalued as a human being.”

 

Before you bash me for using Huffpo, I want to note that I was hoping a more moderate source had reported on this, but that does not seem to be the case yet. I honestly don't see why this is being reported on more.

 

Discuss, please.

[Delibirb]

The primary issue here, as with the prior incident(s?) involving United Airlines, is less that these events happened. Mistakes are made, things are done incorrectly; its inevitable. The problem is that we are not being told directly why they were allowed to go as far as they did, nor what has been done to rectify the issues. They're trying to sweep things under the rug with reassurances, not solve anything and require their credibility. That's the real issue.

[mido9]

Third? What was the second?

[cr47t]

Third? What was the second?

The second was the incident where they beat up and dragged out the passenger. The first was that whole fiasco over prohibiting leggings because of a "dress code" that they apparently won't tell us about what's in it.

[8corners]

Actually, it was covered beyond HuffPo.  NJ.com had an article.  So did New York magazine.  Pretty gross.

 

Clearly, United hasn't been supporting an internal pro-customer culture.  In a better company, individual employees at gates and in planes would feel more empowered to do the unusual (i.e., speak up!).

[vla1ne]

 The first was that whole fiasco over prohibiting leggings because of a "dress code" that they apparently won't tell us about what's in it.

wasn't the dress code one pretty straightforward though? the people they prohibited, were essentially flying as representatives of the company, leggings would not be the first thing i want people who fly for free wearing when they board my planes. odds are, the same dress code they hold to their employees, extended to the people the employees bring with them.

 

also, something that somewhat bugged me were these two things being so close together:

"“I would like to know what policies are in place that allow this to happen,” she wrote. “FAA regulations prevent the boarding of an intoxicated person and selling alcohol to him. The [flight attendants] knowingly put a drunk person who had sexually harassed the [flight attendant] next to me and my daughter. United jeopardized the safety of everyone on board.”"

the question was answered one sentence after it was asked; I.E, there are no policies that allowed it to happen, this was a clear breach of regulations, and should she wish (though she did not wish to), she could have asked for nearly anything and got it from them, simply because she would have raked them over the coals had she taken this to any court via harassment and boarding policy breaches. a terrible employee made a stupid mistake, and it lead to a horrible situation, which has now been covered, and hopefully, at the very least, got the employee(s) fired for such negligence. since nothing further was asked of them by any of the people involved, nothing further is required. could they, and should they go an extra mile to make amends? yes, to both. and in all likelihood, the $400 worth of travel vouchers was their attempt to make amends, and hopefully provide her with a better experience should she ever (she likely never will) chose to fly with them again. there's not much else they can really do.