Man Kicked Off Plane for Catcalling Flight Attendant? When Amber Nelson boarded a flight at the SeattleTacoma Airport Sunday, she was more focused on the flight than the people around her. She’d flown on a plane before and was busy watching the typical safety demonstration attendants gave before take-off.
But a male passenger in the row behind her changed all of that quickly, she wrote.
“Ooh, sexy,” he called out, as a female flight attendant demonstrated how to put on a life vest.
The man, she recalled in a Facebook post, was surrounded by women: two sitting on either side, as well as another two women sitting with her in the row in front of him.
They “exchanged uncomfortable glances,” Nelson wrote. “Every woman I know has been through this kind of degrading experience. We were trapped on a plane with a guy who clearly disrespected women and saw us as his own personal entertainment.”
But the flight attendant herself stepped in.
“Before we could do more than glare in his direction, the flight attendant removed her vest, purposely walked up to him and said, ‘You need to be respectful,’ and started to walk back to her task,” Nelson wrote. “He said, ‘C’mon, I’m just playing with you!'”
She walked to the front of the cabin to talk to her coworkers instead, Nelson wrote, and a few moments later, another staffer entered the plane and walked up to the male passenger. Despite protesting — “I didn’t do anything wrong!” — he was led off the plane.
“It was everything we could do to keep from applauding as he was led away,” Nelson wrote.
The airline confirmed a passenger had been removed before a flight’s departure in an email to Fortune. “We stand behind the actions taken by our employees,” media relations manager Ann Johnson Zaninovich wrote.
Nelson, in her post, thanked the airline for acting on behalf of its employee.
“I felt honored as a patron of the airline – and as a woman – because Alaska Airlines supported their staff and those of us on board who were demeaned by another passenger’s juvenile and exceedingly disrespectful behavior,” she wrote.
I don’t like catcalls, that said I think they overreacted!! The flight attendant had every right to berate him. She could have told him that his bad behavior would not be tolerated, and if he kept it up, he’d be forced off the plane. To be summarily walked off the plane was wrong!!
KIND OF TOUGH ON HIM, DON’T YOU THINK? IF HE CONTINUED THIS BEHAVIOR DURING THE FLIGHT, HE MIGHT BE MARCHED OFF THE PLANE AT 30.000 FEET. IT WOULD NOT BE THE FALL THAT WOULD HURT, JUST THAT SUDDEN STOP!
Why are you SHOUTING?
Excellent decision Alaska Airlines!
Thank you for supporting the decision of your staff. I support / agree with the decision to remove that passenger (male). Let us finally hold to a standard of respect & in doing so I sincerely hope that men who have not realized the dignity of women get there, soon.
Not all women or men have dignity. I have met many undignified people of both genders.
“people of both genders” – you spend a lot of time with hermaphrodites? … Perhaps you meant ‘either gender’.
#EnglishIsHard
people is plural. Being an nitpicky smart ass is…..no hashtag comes to mind
wow what a sensitive world we live in so fragile are the people within it harden up for Christ sake theres people starving in the world and these people are worried about being called sexy get over it
I don’t know. The way the article was written it sounded as if he was making fun of the safety vest and not cat calling the flight attendant.
Regardless it almost does seem an overreaction to a rule that I doubt is written anywhere. Not everyone is aware of every politically correct thing that they are supposed to do, or not do. I once referred to an Asian person as Oriental. I did not know that was incorrect nor offensive to some. Should I have been fired from my job because of it?
Too much PC in our world. Get a life and get over it. Way overboard on the treatment of a paying customer!
Good for them. I hope all the whiners in this comment section get harrased at work and learn some empathy.
What a load of tosh. If one so much as smiles at a female now, it is tantamount to rape, or is it OK with a signed and notarised consent form. Humans interact, period. If no one is harmed, so what. She should have quietly approached him and politely told him that his comment was unwelcome. If he apologised, then fine. If not, but did not do it again, move on.
The whole system is going over the top, actors. priests. men, in general, where is it going to stop.
Have we lost the ability or the right to joke flirt or even make a comment to women on how nice or pretty they are?
maybe all men should move to one continent and the women to the other and as there will be no more children how peaceful would the world be. then gay marriage would have a place in this world.
Kicking him off the plane was way over the top. That would only be appropriate if he had continued or become disruptive but he didn’t. Also his comment was a lighthearted comment about the lifejacket not her. It’s hardly surprising, since most passengers have watched the demonstration about 50 times before.
These special snowflakes need to realise that men get far worse, but we don’t act like little children. Tell him to be more respectful and as long as he heeds the warning, act like a professional. When dealing with the public you don’t get to serve only the people you like.
Who wants such a special snowflake as a flight attendant in an emergency situation?
A fanatic feminist as a flight attendant would only look after female passengers in an emergency.
Alaska Airlines should be ashamed of the behavior of their employee. Boycott Alaska Airlines for not having the courage to explain to their employee that self-percieved microagressions are not an excuse for abusing passengers.
I am a male and love ladies but why did he have to open his mouth? That shows little respect for woman, he is free to think about AND EVEN DREAM ABOUT BUT HAS NO RIGHT TO SHOUT IT OUT.
It sounds like he sarcastically called the vest ‘sexy’, but I did not hear his tone. It does seem petty for a flight attendant to be ‘tirggered’ by this when they are subjected to so many real abuses.
You may want to check the date on this article before adding to these comments.
For the record, good riddance to the obnoxious passenger. Don’t want to be in a tin can aloft with anyone who doesn’t understand basic decency and respect. He can walk to his destination.
The only things he apparently said is “Oh, Sexy” and “‘C’mon, I’m just playing with you!’”, to me that seems like and overreaction, normal people including men put up with a whole lot worse including from women.
End result is an employer if looking for a new employee will more likely choose a man than a woman to fill the position as less likely to deal with drama.
As a man, I like women – so I don’t treat them this way, and I don’t think any man who considers himself a gentleman should do this either. I’m glad they kicked him off the flight.