Comments on: No tattoos please, we’re British

By: Kweh

Kweh — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:21:12 +0000

This is obviously not very well researched; the article makes numerous references, outside of the victim’s own quotes, to “British Air” and “British Airlines,” neither of which exist.

Must have been a slow news day…

By: Frank

Frank — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:29:57 +0000

On April 29th, 2009 at 12:40 pm Skip said First off, Laura, the gate agent is not all-powerful. As a former ramper, I saw many gate agents endure abuse based on over-developed senses of entitlement from passengers.
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I concur.

How about the all powerful gate agent who had his neck broken at CO trying to protect a secure area, the jetway? Or the passenger coming off a caribbean flight, who shoved the all powerful gate agent into the podium, breaking his ribs. Or the all powerful gate agent who was bitten in the arm by a female passenger learning her flight was delayed.

By: Twitted by nickyru

Twitted by nickyru — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:04:16 +0000

[...] This post was Twitted by nickyru [...]

By: Dean

Dean — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:58:36 +0000

Or perhaps I would ban smug journalists who try to connect indefensible airline behavior (barring someone with tatts boarding) with engineering and economic issues (size and weight of a passenger). The first has no relation to the second. It is not a personal issue when my neighbor’s torso and thighs impinge on my breathing and circulation because of their size. I paid for a seat, not a slice. When their issue impacts what I purchased it is no longer a “personal issue. Should they then, by extension, get a portion of my carry on meal as well? The seats were designed for a particular passenger configuration. When the passengers exceed the design standards, the seats are not going to handle the out of standard situation (aerospace engineer here, can you tell?). As a formerly overweight guy (6’1″, 280 now 200), I was on the edge of the armrest, not quite over it. When I realized that, I started a weight loss program (no ad here, don’t worry). Why can’t other such individuals and why are airlines demonized when they recognize this reality? Clothiers charge extra for “big and tall” sizes and those customers don’t restrict the clothing of their others. Why shouldn’t airlines charge more, particularly when they do impact the flying experience, comfort and even safety of their other passengers?

By: Skip

Skip — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:40:01 +0000

First off, Laura, the gate agent is not all-powerful. As a former ramper, I saw many gate agents endure abuse based on over-developed senses of entitlement from passengers. The scenes were never caused by those with Elite status ff cards, by the way. The gate agents have to defer to the supervisors, and everyone has to defer to the flight’s CO. So I for one do not appreciate this inaccurate characterization of the over-zealous gate agent.

Second, as a performing musician for the vast majority of my life (46 years experience now), we are accustomed to receiving plenty of attention while in the limelight of the stage. But we don’t live there, and out to be left alone just like you are when out in public. We perform onstage as part of our job–and that’s only the publicly-visible part.

Except for the very few celebrities who demand attention 24 hours a day, we leave the stage behind us when we are done. We do have a right to privacy and, like Joel Madden stated, we don’t like causing scenes. He handled this incident with a lot of class. For every Paris Hilton, there are hundreds of Harrison Fords.

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:07:06 +0000

I would ban people who have a tobacco stench about them….and you know who you are!

By: Ron

Ron — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:00:31 +0000

Question: So, if you were the all-powerful gate agent, what type of passenger would you ban?

Answer: Smug airline employees that like to make up the rules as they go along. Since I cannot tell a smug employee from a nice, normal one, I’d have to enforce the rule on all airline employees to let them know how it feels to be at the mercy of a capricious gate agent.

But that’s just me dreaming…..