A woman was arrested after admitting to faking an emergency onboard in hopes of securing an upgrade. Small problem, though: the aircraft had no premium cabin.
The incident took place on American Airlines flight 3508 from Pensacola to Miami last Friday. Operated by Envoy, the Embraer ERJ-145 has 50 economy class seats. Every seat is identical, though the three exit row seats do have two extra inches of legroom. There is no first class or premium cabin.
Shortly after takeoff, a woman complained she was feeling very sick. She asked for a bigger seat. Rather than move her to a non-existent seat, the pilot declared an emergency. The flight returned to Pensacola.
Back on the ground, the woman tried to laugh off the diversion, stating it was all a joke and she just wanted a bigger seat. Only no one else was laughing. She was asked to deplane and then refused.
Thus, the entire plane was emptied out and she was left alone with law enforcement officers and the pilot. Eventually, the pilot able to coax her off without having to drag her off.
She is being held under the Florida Mental Health Act of 1971, which allows for temporary detentions of those deemed threats to themselves.
The flight took off again and made it Miami about 90 minutes late.
CONCLUSION
Maybe the woman was sick. But you’d think that if she wanted a free upgrade she would have chosen an aircraft that actually has a first class section…
(H/T: View from the Wing // image: PlanespotterA320 / Wikimedia Commons)
People have such terrible misconceptions about “upper class” lifestyles in general, she probably thought there was a secret upper-deck where all the rich people (flying Pensacola-Miami) were sitting.
Minor quibble: as a regular flyer of Envoy’s ERJ-145’s in and out of MIA, I can attest that the exit rows on this bird provide much more than 2 extra inches of pitch, despite what it says on seatguru. Still probably not worth faking a medical emergency over, though.
“I’m having a medical emergency! Put me in the exit row in charge of operating this heavy door, the chances of which we will have to use have just gone up astronomically because we are requesting an emergency landing!”
Her (faked) medical condition would likely have DQed her from exit row anyway.
She actually suffers from a real condition: ‘anonymity’ ; “Umm excuse me stewardess, but do you know who I am!”
I’m impressed that this episode cost her fellow passengers only 90 minutes of their time. Compliments to the flight and ground crew for dealing with this so quickly!
Idiots who pull crap like this deserve mandatory jail time.
People are idiots, and far too many have decided they can simply do anything they want, with no consequences. It’s time to make some examples and let everyone see that actions have consequences. A month in the Iron Bar Motel would be a good starting point.
And a lifetime membership in the No-Fly Club.