At least the AMR PR department had a better response to a viral video crisis than United and acted swiftly to stand down the employee involved pending investigation but still…you’d have thought that any airline employees that come near the passengers would be operating under the assumption that there is a live camera pointed at them at all times.
You shouldn’t NEED that fear to do the job professionally but if you’re inclined to harass and abuse passengers based on your position of authority (such as it is), you’d be a fool to assume it won’t be noticed in today’s day and age.
That being said and after viewing the video in question, there’s two people that also need to come in for a bit of criticism:
- The passenger who “wasn’t going to stand for this” and decided to inject himself into the situation right in front of the Captain actually needed to mind his own beeswax in this situation. The Captain and the flight attendants looked to me like they were trying to calm and comfort the distraught mother and for a brief instant it looked like it was working when she asked them to give her a minute to compose herself. And then the passenger jumps right in the middle of it escalating the situation by demanding the employee’s name once again before the gate agent reappears…at this point, he’s dangerously close to being booted for interfering with the flight crew.
Ordinarily, I don’t tend to have a lot of faith in customer service departments but a well-written letter of complaint addressed to them and copied to Doug Parker in light of the UAL incident would have ensured that the gate agent would have come to regret his actions. The union could try to protect the employee but in this case they’d be better served quietly cutting him loose when charged with gross misconduct and conduct unbecoming. The flight number, date, and departure city and a physical description would have made identifying the employee trivial.
- The Captain should have ensured that the incendiary gate agent kept out of sight on the jetway after the incident and have any follow-up conversation there when it was obvious that Mr Nosey was obviously spoiling for a fight. Letting the gate agent back onboard was like tossing a match into a shed full of TNT…there was no way on earth that was going to go well. It looks like he finally does this toward the end when he steps through 1L but at that point it is too late, the damage has been done.
To be honest, I was rather surprised he was standing there watching this…ordinarily, the FO is the one who gets to break up the fights (or end up getting punched in the face as was the case of one FO on a flight I was on returning to Orlando with an enraged and inebriated lady from Montreal who didn’t appreciate him manhandling her and subsequently broke his nose!).