First off, I would like to apologize to the other passengers onboard the American Airlines flight that I was thrown off of yesterday. It was never my intention to inconvenience anyone with my "issue" with a certain flight attendant.
I suppose a part of my frustration lay with the fact that I had flown American for over 20 years and was brand loyal, in the extreme. The ticketing agents and Admiral's Club staff have always been nothing but abundantly helpful to me, as I have flown hundreds of thousands of miles with the one carrier.
My confusion began when the flight, already a half hour behind schedule, boarded, the door closed, and we proceeded to sit at the gate for another fifteen minutes. I then did what I have nearly always done and that was to pull out my phone to complete any other messaging I had to do before take off. In nearly all other instances, the flight attendants seemed to be unbothered by and said nothing about such activity, by me or anyone else, until we actually were pulling away from the gate.
In this case, while other people were still manipulating their own phones, this one employee singled me out to put my phone away. Afterward, we still sat at the gate. I pulled out my phone again, while others did the same. Again, I was singled out by this woman in the most unpleasant of tones. I guess the fact that this woman, who had decided to make some example of me, while everyone else was left undisturbed, did get the better of me.
However, I have learned a valuable lesson. Airlines in the US are struggling with fuel costs, labor costs, bankruptcies, you name it. It's no secret that the level of service on US carriers has deteriorated to a point that would make Howard Hughes red-faced. Filthy planes, barely edible meals, cuts in jet service to less-traveled locations. One of the big changes, in my time, is in the increase of the post-9/11, paramilitary bearing of much of the air travel business. September 11th was a horrific day in the airline industry, yet in the wake of that event, I believe carriers and airports have used that as an excuse to make the air travel experience as inelegant as possible.
Most of the flight attendants I have ever encountered still have some remnant of the old idea of service. Add to that the notion that in this day and age, many people have a lot of important work to do, by phone, and would like to do so till the last possible minute. But there are many now who walk the aisles of an airplane with a whistle around their neck and a clipboard in their hands and they have made flying a Greyhound bus experience.
The lesson I've learned is to keep my phone off when the 1950's gym teacher is on duty. That was my fault there, even though this trip was quite a bit different from so many others. But it is sad, I think, that you've got to fly overseas today in order to bring back what has been thrown overboard by US carriers in terms of common sense, style, and service.
Again, my apology to my fellow travelers.
I want the last 10 minutes of my life back!
He told me the REAL reason you aren't allowed to use them is that, until you reach a certain altitude -- cell phone usage when you pass the towers moving from service area to service area -- interferes with the CELL CARRIERS' business. It is an agreement with the carriers and the FAA. It has absolutely nothing to do with how the plane reacts at all.
Think about it.. with all of the safety measures that have been put in place over the last decade, wouldn't it be just a bit stupid to allow a death-causing toy to be allowed on board? I mean come ON, I can't have a nail file but I can have a deadly game boy or cell phone?
I also agree that service has completely gone down hill over the years.
Flight attendants are REQUIRED, at the risk of fines of THOUSANDS of dollars in PERSONAL fines (paid by themselves, not the airlines), to enforce the FAA rule that all electronic devices be OFF BEFORE push-back from the gate. Sometimes, when a flight is going to be delayed, the CAPTAIN can allow their use temporarily while the plane is stationary. This did not happen in this case.
I do not for an instant believe that the flight attendant was singling him out. A flight attendant engaged in the unpleasant task of confronting a customer over this issue is NOT going to refrain from enforcing the rules with someone else, provided she or he sees them disregarding the FAR's.
The only reason flight attendants have to address this with a metaphorical whistle around their necks is because SO many passengers today are addicted to their little electronic devices, and so many in our culture have a Narcissistic, "that doesn't apply to me" attitude. Most of us handle this tiresome duty with courtesy, but it gets old, especially when you encounter someone who insists on continuing to violate such a simple rule.
Oh, and the line about the important phone business was my favorite, not that that factor really matters.
He was PLAYING a GAME.
this is something that perhaps the airline industries could learn. these are not bad people, but are fighting the repercussions of one of the worst disasters in US history....
still, baldwin is a customer, and there's a certain way we deal with customers. we treat them as they are the reason for our work and not an obstacle (ghandi)... usually when this happens at a post-office or DMV, we kind of suck it in just to keep moving forward, but baldwin didn't want to