Ah who doesn’t love a good people thrown off an airplane story! I didn’t write anything about the recent controversy with a passenger getting downgraded for Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (if you’ve missed it, I thought View from the Wing and Live and Let’s Fly have covered it well), but today a story caught my eye
Blanket controversy!
According to the Undefeated (and ESPN), Memphis Hustle players Marquis Teague and Trahson Burrell were flying with their team from Dallas to Sioux Falls, South Dakota on American Airlines (technically Envoy Air).
According to the 2 players, they were given some of the blankets from first class from 2 first class passengers on the players’ walk back to their coach seats. A flight attendant accused them of stealing the blankets, which set forth a disagreement that ended with the flight attendant saying he did not feel safe with the players being on the flight and insisted they were removed, which they were.
They ended up being put on a later flight to Sioux Falls in first class
Not the actual blanket! But who doesn’t love puppies in blankets? 😉
What really happened?
It’s certainly true that flight attendants have to put up with a lot of crap from people. It’s also undeniably true that a (minority of) flight attendants have power trips where it seems like they just throw people off. I’m also quite sure that it is common for coach passengers to “borrow” first class blankets, especially if there are empty seats in first class, and flight attendants probably have different levels of “caring” about this, depending on several factors.
As with all of these types of stories, I’m always skeptical about just believing the first (usually one sided) story that comes out. And unsurprisingly, it looks like my skepticism has paid off. View from the Wing shares a followup referencing a comment allegedly coming from a fellow passenger
I was on this flight. This is not what happened. The blanket issue was resolved immediately. The two passengers threatened bodily harm to the flight attendant. That’s why they were escorted off the plane.
The commenter also said that the flight attendant was also African American, so race does not appear to be an issue here. I originally thought that the players would have had to say something pretty bad before I’d think it was correct to kick them off the plane. But if they indeed did threaten bodily harm to the flight attendant, then I think it all was handled correctly
What we’ve learned
Well, first of all, it’s not okay to take blankets from the first class section if you’re sitting in coach (not that that is what appears to have happened here)
Secondly, you probably want to refrain from threatening flight attendants on your flight. They have the power to kick you off a flight and they are NOT afraid to use it (as we’ve seen here and in many other incidents over the past few years)
What do you think? Should Teague and Burrell have been kicked off the flight?
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I don’t know exactly what happened in this case the first class blankets are for first class. if the airline wanted coach passengers to have them they would be distributed blankets to each seat. That’s the way it works unless you :
A) Buy a seat in First Class
or
B) Pull the race card
I would generally agree. I wonder what most airlines would say about a first class passenger giving a blanket to a coach passenger (if that indeed did happen here). I would imagine that the policy would be that would not be allowed
just because the flight attendant is black, concluding it is not racism shows your lack of understanding about racism. Of course, blacks would have more understanding about being a target of racism because they probably have been the target of racism so many times (that is why people think about their races in these cases, and many ignorant people will easily say, oh you took your racist card without trying to understand what goes on the minorities mind) but that does not mean blacks do not discriminate against blacks. Actually they do and it is documented in many cases. Just look at how black officers still arrest blacks more. The race of the accuser is not relevant in racism and many people fail to understand this broader definition of racism. The key is the sensitivity and implicit bias training and to reduce the number of ignorant people at least in the service industry. I am sure many people, including you, have no ill intention to make some feel uncomfortable, but in reality it happens and your intentions do not matter much once someone feels uncomfortable. And the key is to create an environment where minority do not have to think about the race when they are mistreated. It is just sad that another crew has not-so-much knowledge about racism, yet say, oh we have the power to eject you and we do it all the time. Yes, we know enough, and that authority has been abused. Look at Dao incident. Unchallenged authorities always create problems in society. Look at the police authority, they cannot be easily sued, so they keep killing people without any consequences. It is the result of giving undisputed authority to less skilled people. Don’t be one of them!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this Ken. To be clear, it wasn’t me who originally said it wasn’t racism because the flight attendant was African-American, though I admit to thinking that too. But you’re absolutely right – so thanks for helping me look at things in a different light
Good thing the basketball players didn’t book First Class seats because all the blankets would have been stolen and Sheila Jackson Lee would be in their seats calling them all racists.