Nine months after being thrown off a United Airlines flight for taking a picture of the seat in front of me, I noticed the following picture on United’s Instagram page—
From United’s Instagram page. Note the comments.
As I discussed in my account of what happened, the whole point of United’s onboard photo policy is to protect the privacy of others in the cabin–both staff and passengers. That is a laudable goal and why I was careful not to include any other passenger in my picture.
But the picture above blatantly compromises the privacy of at least one and arguably four other passengers. It is a very nice picture of the party of six traveling, but what gives? United posts this to its own Instagram page but refuses to admit that my picture was perfectly fine?Even though similar pictures of airline seats can also be found on United’s Instagram page?
My request to United is simply that it clarifies its photo policy, specifically making it clear just what a “personal event” is.
To my knowledge you never shared the final agreement. Unless you were really satisfied I would have expected you to sue them and I would have been on your side.
Wasn’t the flyer community final consensus agree that the reason for getting kicked off the airplane was not because you were taking pictures… It’s because you stated you “I hope you didn’t think I was a terrorist”
Bro, I think your bitter and want to criticize United as if it would make you feel better. You should let that go already, you got to press on forward…
@Anon: I was not at all satisfied with the resolution, but I was faced with a sobering reality. I was in Philadelphia and I needed to get to LA almost every weekend. I was 60K away from MM status. UA was by far the cheapest carrier, served ZFV, and I was upgraded every week, on every transcon. It just made sense. There is so much about UA that I just hate, but it is still the best choice for me. Thus, I saw no reason to fight further–no reason to jeopardize my MM status. This event brought good publicity, particularly when other passengers corroborated my story, and I got to fly from EWR-IAD-KWI-IST instead of EWR-IST, something that I ended up really enjoying. I do hope to run into that FA again one day, but I do not hold grudges.
@James: You can draw your own conclusions, but I was there and I was given a different reason for my send-off. The “flyer community final consensus” means nothing to me and meant nothing to the captain who threw me off.
Frankly I can’t see any way that Matthew legitimately got thrown off that flight. Now you can’t even say the “T-word” on a plane even if it’s to protest your own innocence? Taking a picture of a SEAT is enough to bring down the ire of a flight attendant sufficiently to get booted off the flight? I don’t think the exact specifics about why he was booted matters, the FA and pilot both made mistakes and I’d like to hear the airline admit as much and clarify in a public and official way that the taking of such pictures is 100% legitimate and permitted.
James, if you can find such a final consensus, I’d love to read it. Since the captain didn’t include that as the reason for booting him, it’s irrelevant.
I don’t think a lawsuit would be useful since they did get him to his destination and I think gave him some limited compensation.
I wonder, though, what Matt would say to the FA who got him booted. After all, trying to have a discussion with her got him booted in the first place. I find when dealing with these types that the best way to get them is simply to be there. They like confrontation when they’re in the power seat but if Matt says nothing, then she has nothing. Their consciences are the worst taskmasters.
“but I was there and I was given a different reason for my send-off.” What was it?
@Billy: continuing to take pictures when told to stop, which was a blatant lie on the part of the FA.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I was actually on that flight in BusinessFirst when Matthew got kicked off. I heard the FA loud and clear from my seat. The FA claimed “He (meaning Matthew) is taking pictures of us while we work” and then stormed off to the captain. She did NOT say he got kicked off for using the word terrorist, even if it didn’t help his cause. I didn’t understand it at the time (why he got kicked off), and I understand it less after seeing the photo that got him kicked off. It was a joke.
Thank you Frank!
Do you know whether the FA (or pilot, but it seems like fault rests with the FA here) was reprimanded?
@Sean: No idea. I wish I did, but it is not my business anymore.