A passenger was denied boarding on a United Airlines transcontinental flight after cursing at a gate agent. The captain happened to overhear the conversation…
Nice: Passenger Denied Boarding After Cursing At Gate Agent
One of my favorite threads on FlyerTalk is the “DYKWIA” (do you know who I am?) thread in the United Airlines forum.
There, passengers (and occasionally pilots, as we will see below) can share stories of passengers who think a bit too highly of themselves. Think those who push past others to the front of the line, loudly proclaiming they have silver status when golds, platinum, and top-tier passengers have not even boarded yet.
The United forum has a number of United employees who post as well including one named 757FO who has been a prolific poster for years. He’s remained anonymous, but I have found his commentary quite enjoyable and often useful over the years.
Recently, he shared about how he removed an irate passenger in Newark, New Jersey (EWR):
Had a funny one earlier this week on a domestic 4 day trip. While at EWR, I had to pop out to grab some paperwork from the GA just before boarding started. Standing there, literally throwing every combination of the “F” word at the gate agent was a 1K member (or so he claimed) angry about something. I stood there for a second, looked at him, and asked if he was flying to SFO. He confirmed he was. I then turned to the GA and told her to re-accommodate him on another flight, because he WAS not flying with me that day. I honestly thought he was going to punch one of us at that point but to his credit, he simply threw a few F-bombs at us and walked away.
Well done, captain!
Some context. 1K represents the top published status tier in the MileagePlus program. To reach 1K status, you have to spend nearly $18,500 per year and fly 54 segments or fly $24,000 outright. That’s a lot of travel…
But whether this man was a road warrior who lives on airplanes or a big spender who buys a handful of pricey tickets each year, it really doesn’t matter…it is never okay to curse out a gate agent (or any airline employee).
Stories like this show me that the culture at United is getting better. Employees are sticking up for one another and while “the customer is always right” may be the aspirational goal, it is not always the case in practice…nor should it be.
Think how much it meant to the gate agent that the pilot stood up for her. It’s a big deal. She’ll remember that. Tell her friends about it. And it will make her a better employee.
This isn’t the first time this captain has put a 1K member in his pace.
Once again, well done captain!
CONCLUSION
Potty mouths and Newark Liberty International Airport often go hand in hand, but that doesn’t justify it.
Be warned: if you start cursing, you may be denied boarding. That’s a good thing. Treat others the way you want to be treated.
Time to start a “Captain of the Month” or “Airline Employee of the month” award Matt. This guy deserves to be the first recipient.
@DaveEdwards … +1 .
Cursing is never good and won’t give you the outcome you want. However, we don’t really know what triggered his reaction. Not approving his behavior but I have had some really nasty gate agents in the past and I definitely cursed at them silently in my head.
While I don’t share your strong aversion to cursing, screaming at the gate agent would be plenty of reason to not allow that jerk to board.
A nice story, but I’m sure the passenger only got angrier because of that captain. The poor gate agent likely had to deal with that aggravated customer until the next flight. Seems like the only winner here is the captain.
…and the other passengers on that flight. A jerk at the gate will likely be a jerk onboard.
This passenger is a potential cause for diversion and delay so I think captain here did a reasonable thing
I am always on my best behavior and smiling when on long haul business class but no expression when on long haul economy. Just the opposite of Mr. Potty Mouth.
Nice story on the surface, but frequent flyers don’t typically burst into hysterics. I’d be curious to know what got the 1k member so fired up. EWR employees are not generally reputed for greatness…
Exactly my point. If this guy had this behavior more often he would probably not be a 1K as he would be banned from flying UA. Something triggered his behavior and although not a good one it would be interesting to hear what the gate agent told him.
About time someone said “enough is enough” to those who do this.
Yeah – f*ck them!
Cursing an employee will never yield a positive result. Make your point with reason and logic. The captain removed an unhinged passenger and more power to him. In my opinion berating the gate agent should also be considered an offense without nasty language. The GA might be wrong, but we have to use civility to be heard.
@Maryland … +1 .
“he shared about how he took removed an irate passenger in Newark”
“it will make her more a better employee”
A quick proofread would go a long way.
And you F#cking off would go a short way. How much did you pay for access to this site a#shole?
Now go shit in one hand and wish in the other and see which weighs more.
Dave, it’s all right – I appreciate the corrections. I miss them myself and so does Grammarly.
you ok bud?
Minor pedantic point: This gentleman who you keep calling “Captain” is most likely a First Officer (the guy in the right seat, not the left). Note that he goes by the moniker “757FO” (“FO” would typically stand for First Officer…although in this case, the idiot at the boarding gate probably stood for “F**k Off”).
Good on him for denying boarding to that abusive jerk. Please give us more of that, sir…
What kind of loser pilot hangs around a Frequent flyer board?
Pilots interested in the stories of what goes on at airports and on planes in the eyes of other flyers. Pilots who also play the miles and points game. Pilots who were into travel before they became pilots. Pilots who want to share their thoughts with travelers of some sort or another.
“Cursing” and “profanity” is apparently in the eye of the beholder, the beholden and in who is being viewed by the beholder and the beholden. And sort of the same for consequences for such behavior. Thus, the inconsistency in practice where even blatant violations of policy that are tolerated from some customers/users by some (or many or even all) privileged actors comes with a hammer for others — even at times going after some others who don’t even violate published policy.
Take FlyerTalk for example, where a profanity/obscenity rule thing was part of the Do discussion with its moderators at the TWA hotel in the fall of 2022. The takeaway from
there was that different people just have different ideas and different standards about what constitutes an actionable offense against policy.
Apparently, in one place where I spend a lot of time, the four letter words for damnation and for where the damned are said to go is considered to be worse than the four letter words for copulation and for feces. Also, language that can get someone imprisoned in Dubai may be language frowned upon in Salt Lake City but tolerated in Moscow.
Congratulations Captain. You are a true hero and should be awarded by United Airlines and the flying public for stopping a possible problem in the air and having to land, disrupting the lives of all the other passengers.
You are correct in your actions and the passenger should be put on the no-fly-list–no exception.=
The airline industry around the world needs more hero pilots like you.
I hope I fly with you captain on my next United Airlines flight.
Again, how do we know this pilot/captain is a man? I personally think it’s a woman captain. 6% of pilots at United are women.
I spoke to him.
Thanks.
The less you say the better. Just sit down and shu;t up. I’m sure we all know this by now, at least most of us.
Just pretend you are entering a prison with security guards…that’s how flying is these days, for me at least.
Levels of civility and levels of hospitality have dropped at airports and on flights, and together made flying as a passenger more akin to dealing with the prison industrial complex than it used to be.
I don’t like cursing out anyone but there’s a difference between saying “what the f” vs f you. Seems arbitrary and a little high and mighty thay he hears swearing and goes “you’re off the plane!” Perhaps could have spoken to the agent?
Especially as a he runs to flyertalk to blag about his exploits. Look at me!
“Stories like this show me that the culture at United is getting better. Employees are sticking up for one another and while “the customer is always right” may be the aspirational goal, it is not always the case in practice…nor should it be.
Think how much it meant to the gate agent that the pilot stood up for her. It’s a big deal. She’ll remember that. Tell her friends about it. And it will make her a better employee.”
The captain sticking up for the GA appears to be the right call here. I’ve long said the best way to deal with boorish behavior is to show there are consequences for engaging in it. But let’s look at another case – the time the captain on the flight you were kicked off of took the side of the FA that flat-out made up a rule. Sure, the FA probably remembered that, probably even bragged to her friends about how she got a passenger kicked off a flight, but did it make her a better employee? Did the captain sticking up for an employee in the wrong make United a better company? Point is, I’d be careful what you wish for, given the unfortunately large number of bad employees still working in the airline industry.
To be fair, the captain in my case witnessed nothing…he just bought the lie from the FA.
Here, the captain heard the passenger cursing at the gate agent.
Big-headed white knight pilot comes to the rescue of a gate agent who was probably giving bad service to a customer that probably expected better for $18 per year. Asshole.
What the captain did was what was best for him he didn’t have this guy on his flight. But he actually made it more difficult for the GA. He pissed the guy off even more and forced the gate agent to have to deal with him even more by re accommodating him on a later flight. The captain had good intentions but knowing that he wasn’t going to ultimately prevent this guys travel he should have spoken to the passenger and reminded him that he is the captain of the flight and that he would not stand for any further foul language. And if the retort to this is oh no what happens on the plane if he misbehaves that is a moot point since the captain was telling them to put him on a later flight. He was just passing the problem onward. What
Ah, so it would have been better if the captain could just put the guy on a permanent, all-airline, no-fly list. Got it.
The captain here did the right thing, but because the passenger was being abusive, not because the passenger was using certain language. I never understand why passengers will yell and swear at people who are 1) not THAT powerful and 2) what power they do have is much better utilized by being kind and helpful. I do agree with the post above that suggests that a captain must judiciously exercise their authority to bar a passenger from an aircraft and should do such things only when they witness or have corroboration of bad acts – not like the situation when the jerk FA made up a rule.