Tall tales of airline racism undermine true victims. Prejudice, bigotry, and racism exist, but become lost in a sea of doubt when charlatans fabricate stories of racism. Case in point: a pair of tales about Asian-Americans experiencing racism on two major U.S. airlines. One event really occurred. The other was a cruel ruse that duped many.
Story #1: Fake Racism On American Airlines
You may have heard about a racist phone call an Asian-American passenger claimed to have received from American Airlines. In short:
- The passenger claimed to check-in for his August 18th New York (JFK) – Orange Country (SNA) flight on time, though directly at the 45-minute check-in cutoff
- He was denied boarding even though he had no baggage to check, therefore technically falling under an optional grace period (at the discretion of the agent)
- Though placed on standby, it took two days to get home
- He called American Airlines to voice his complaint over how the situation was handled
- On August 21st, he allegedly received a call from a pair of American Airlines employees, who proceeded to ridicule and harass him over his complaint, also making fun of his Asian heritage by stating:
- “You stupid rice eating c*nt”
- “No wonder you’re named after a d*ck, I should just call you d*ckhead” (his surname is Wang)
The audio is frankly vile and I will not embed it in my story, though you can listen to it here. It’s absolutely demeaning in terms of both racist and obscene language. It’s also likely fake, a product of “The Macron Show” (I didn’t even look it up nor do I want to…that’s according to One Mile at a Time and I’ll take his word for it).
It isn’t clear if Mr. Wang was in on the joke, though it is easy enough to find someone’s number online and use apps like SpoofCard to disguise your caller ID. Wang told Live and Let’s Fly he was an innocent victim after complaining about his flight experience on social media and has no idea how his number was obtained.
Story #2: Real Racism On United Airlines
Which brings us to the true story, personally shared to me by a long-time reader of the blog whom I fully trust and has no motive to fabricate or exaggerate. He is also Asian-American.
On June 23rd, he was traveling from Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to Houston (IAH) onboard United Airlines flight 1210 and seated in first class. He needed to use the lavatory but the seatbelt light was on. Finally, after about an hour into the flight with not even a bump, he rose from his seat to use the restroom.
But when he stood up to use it, a female flight attendant shook her head and motioned for him to sit down. He was seated in seat 5A and rather than climb over his seatmate in 5B, he took a seat in vacant 7D (the entire row was empty), a bulkhead economy class seat right next to the mid-cabin lavatory.
Most flight attendants won’t put up a fuss, though technically passengers are to remain seated when the seatbelt light is illuminated.
But moments later a white passenger in 4A stood up and approached the same lavatory. Instead of scolding him, the flight attendant smiled and opened the door for him. The seatbelt light was still on.
A few minutes later, an older flight attendant walked past the Asian-American, still patiently waiting to use the lavatory even though nature was calling. He told the flight attendant that he really needed to go, the seatbelt light had been on for over an hour, and another passenger had just used the restroom.
In a blunt reply, the flight attendant responded, “Do you speak English?”
(The passenger had been speaking English, of course)
The flight attendant went on to lecture him about seatbelt protocol in a rude and condescending manner before telling him, like a three-year-old, he could only use the restroom in case of an emergency. It was only then that he grudgingly opened the lavatory door after the passenger verbally confirmed it was indeed an emergency.
So in this case, an Asian-American passenger was not allowed to use the lavatory while a white passenger was…and the Asian-American passenger was talked down to like a child and insulted about his English skills even though he was clearly speaking English.
Such flight attendants do not belong in the sky…
CONCLUSION
Our tendency is to dismiss or at least be skeptical of all stories of racism when such charges are thrown around so flippantly in today’s culture. Nevertheless, there are real instances that do occur and I believe did occur on that United flight from Fort Lauderdale to Houston. If not because of his Asian-American appearance, then why else would he be scolded while another passenger seated one row in front of him in the same first class cabin was not scolded? That’s the sad story here. And stores like this become more difficult to believe thanks to spoof phone calls and fake stories of racism.
The United story is surprising. We all know that if you really have a need, all you must do is to tell the flight attendant that you will be careful. No one has ever challenged me.
I guess this flight attendant is wearing the rare small ego…. So sad….
I have a Vietnamese-American friend whom I’ve heard say, in reply to the “do you speak English?” question (and in American-accented English), “Yes, I’m fluent in English, French, and Vietnamese. Which would *you* prefer?” Unfortunately, the sarcasm goes right over the head of the people who asked the question.
Seems that some pilots keep the seatbelt sign on too long or not when really needed. Like the story of the boy who cried wolf.
1. Seems like different FAs, different answers. That is not surprising.
2. Seems like if you get up from a first class seat, you will get a different answer than if you get up from an economy seat. I have seen that before, too.
3. Seems that on many relatively short flights, the pilot never turns the seatbelt light off, for no good reason. This is something UA should do something about, if they are going to start arguing with passengers about when they can go to the bathroom.
The United story, if true, and you think it is, is appalling. Truly appalling. Fire him/her immediately. Even if the AFA gets him/her job back the message will be sent. Racism is a non starter. If you don’t love lying with people different than yourself, get a new job.
I 100% agree, this F/A needs to be identified and fired immediately. This is not a case of providing sensitivity training or job awareness training, this person is in the wrong career role. Frankly I see this person as basically un employable…..
Purely anecdotal but why do international flights turn off the seat belt sign minutes after takeoff…about 10-15min (at best) before US flights???
Something in the pilot training?
“Purely anecdotal but why do international flights turn off the seat belt sign minutes after takeoff…about 10-15min (at best) before US flights???”
My guess could be about reaching cruising altitude. For longer duration flights, they may push to reach cruising altitude more quickly hence the seatbelt sign goes off sooner.
The FA may just be a jerk, Sexist, or Ageist.
The same scenario happened to me twice in the last two weeks on flights to Houston, one on American and one on United. Both times I was in First, both times I tried to use the lav in First, both times I was told to sit down, then both times another pax in First used the lav, unchallenged. I walked to the back and used the Economy lav.
It might be sexism or Ageism. In my cases, both times they were younger female FAs, I am an older White male, and the pax following me were younger females, one Black, one White.
I wrote to both American and United and received letters of apology. Who knows if anyone talked to the FAs about their Sexism/Ageism/Rudeness.
“If not because of his Asian-American appearance, then why else would he be scolded while another passenger seated one row in front of him in the same first class cabin was not scolded?”
Here’s one possibility:
The better treated passenger was more attractive.
Yes, it sounds simple and it often is. I’ll admit it, I’m not good looking and there are some people who are exceptionally rude to me because of it. I chatted with someone about this phenomenon and she seemed to reveal that she projected her own shallowness onto those she despised because they were “bitter” about it.
It’s puzzling to me that he encountered now just one, but TWO, crew members who gave him a hard time about using the bathroom after he had provided a justification.
Even if that’s true, what is considered “more attractive” is largely set in reference to white attractiveness standards. Unless the United passenger was somehow beyond the pale ugly or the white passenger was astoundingly attractive, I’m going to agree with Matthew that this incident at least had something to do with race.
I think probably the only way this possibly could have been race-neutral is if the passenger was really bad at communicating his needs to FA’s. But even then he would have to be REALLY BAD at that, and probably even then the FA’s would have had to have been in a particularly foul mood already. I doubt the latter based on the fact that Matthew has interacted with him and vouches for him, and also the fact that it’s rare to get a flight attendant who is actively horrible, even if it’s all to common to get one that doesn’t really care or low-key treats you like an inconvenience.
“Even if that’s true, what is considered “more attractive” is largely set in reference to white attractiveness standards.”
I googled “top tall men countries” and found that ALL of them were in Europe!
https://www.insider.com/tallest-people-world-countries-ranked-2019-6#1-the-netherlands-17562cm-5-feet-796-inches-25
Even so, this doesn’t mean that heightism is purely a “white attractiveness standard”
https://www.aristeon.net/2013/10/why-chinese-women-are-obsessed-with-men-height.html#:~:text=Height%20was%20a%20universal%20Chinese,an%20advantage%20for%20women%2C%20though.
It’s interesting to note that these “attractiveness standards” may be largely driven by WOMEN.
In any case, there are possible reasons why not one, but two, UA FA’s treated the Asian American with scorn while falling over themselves to cater to some other white first class passenger. Heck, I came up with another just now:
Maybe the other FC passenger was a Sky Marshall?
The USA is perhaps one of the least racist places on planet Earth (particularly towards non-whites) because this situation is a good example of how it’s assumed that the complainant was treated poorly due to race and therefore actionable. Note the one in darkest red:
https://www.indiatoday.in/world/asia/story/india-among-world-most-racist-countries-britian-tolerant-survey-163396-2013-05-17
I have myself experienced the too-long seatbelt sign after T.O. and it can be very annoying. I am willing to attribute it to a busy flight deck crew who perhaps forget that some passengers may need special access to the lav. In any event, unless the bird is flying through chop, the FAs should have some discretion here and admonishing anyone is not the way to go.
What was the flight attendants race?
Both white.