If you are of a certain age, (a child of the 1950s or 1960s) you may have heard your father, most likely, say: "Don't make me stop this car!" When you and your family were on a drive, maybe with a fried for one or more of the children of the family, and some sort of squabble or down right fight broke out, your father would have said: "Don't make me stop this car!" (to administer discipline/punishment.) Although your mother would have been along, she probably did not drive, and she probably was not the family disciplinarian. In my family, "Don't make me stop this car!" was seldom heard, but if it was, it was all that had to be heard.
Well, the 21st century version of this happened on a commercial airline flight: United Airlines Flight 1462 from Newark, NJ, to Denver, Co. http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2014/08/26/knee-defender-fight-united-flight-diverted/14609109/. Two passengers got into a squabble, and the captain of the plane diverted the plane to Chicago, divested the plane of the trouble makers, and continued on to Denver.
In my opinion, the captain made the right move. The Transportation Security Administration treated it, not as a criminal problem, but as a customer service problem. I agree with that. The other passengers were inconvenienced, the plane was late, and there was probably a monetary loss to the airline.
I will admit that there have been moments in my life when I have behaved childishly, even with a stranger. I regret those moments, and try to learn from them. I try very hard to remember to be polite, and doing the right thing is never wrong.
The two passengers highlighted in this story behaved as children, and were treated as children. They should be ashamed of themselves, and they should apologize to their fellow passengers, United Airlines, and the American public. We are better than that!
No comments:
Post a Comment