Border passenger said he should be on the no-fly list

A Frontier Airlines passenger confronted the crew on their flight to express concerns about the illness of another passenger. The answer? He should drive next time and should be on the no-fly list. Hmm …

What we know about this confrontation with Frontier Airlines

TMZ has the story of what happened last Thursday on a Frontier Airlines flight from Miami to Philadelphia. The passenger in seat 25C was concerned about the coughing and sneezing of the passenger sitting directly behind him (in row 26).

The affected passenger requested to be relocated, and this request was granted. Then, at some point during the flight, the affected passenger confronted one of the flight attendants to ask why the passenger had not been removed from the plane. She reportedly replied that if he was worried he should drive next time and he should be on the no-fly list.

It’s not captured on video, so I generally doubt it. However, these exact feelings were reflected by another flight attendant on the same flight.

When the man disembarked, he confronted the crew about the situation, and in particular how the flight attendant had spoken to him. In the nearly 90-second video, there are two flight attendants with the captain, and the passenger tries to stress his concern about the sick passenger.

Rather than getting an apology or a fence because he was told he should drive and be on the no-fly list, he was told that … he should drive next time and that he should be on the no-fly list.

Here are some important points:

• When the passenger begins to recount what happened, the flight attendant replies: “This is a means of transportation, sir, you have an option, you can drive your car if it’s a problem, you don’t. can’t tell people to get off the plane if they cough or sneeze ”
• When the passenger recounts his side of events and asks if the coughing and sneezing passenger should not have been removed, the flight attendant asks “why should he be fired?” and the passenger replies “because the guy is sick” to which the flight attendant replies “you are not a doctor”
• At this point, the flight attendant tells the passenger “you don’t have your mask in good condition either,” to which the passenger replies “I had two, sir”
• At this point, the passenger explains how he was told he had to drive his car and be on the no-fly list; at that point this other flight attendant says “you should be on the no-fly list, you really should be”
• When the passenger asks why they should be on the no-fly list, the flight attendant responds “because you have someone kicked out for sneezing and coughing”

You can watch the video for yourself here:

My take on this Frontier Airlines situation

I have a few different thoughts on this.

First of all, we don’t know how the passenger behaved during the flight. Did he bring this to the attention of the flight attendant only once or twice? Or has he become aggressive, talked about it a dozen times, or been asked to stop, but didn’t? I will say the man looks extremely calm in the video, more so than pretty much any other plane showdown you’ll see on tape.

Then the flight attendants should act more professionally. There is absolutely no need for them to tell a passenger that they should drive next time or that they should be on the no-fly list. It is simply out of place and shows a lack of the ability to defuse situations.

However, I’m not sure the airline did anything wrong by not removing this passenger:

• Upon check-in, Frontier Airlines requires passengers to acknowledge that they are free of symptoms of coronavirus and that they have not been in contact with anyone who has.
• Frontier Airlines does door temperature checks (I’m not suggesting this is helpful, but it’s worth pointing out, as Frontier is one of the few US airlines that does)
• Obviously, we don’t know how severe the coughing and sneezing was, but in general I don’t think that’s a sufficient reason to kick someone off a plane as there are a lot of people sneezing. due to allergies, etc.

Even if the airlines take precautions, at the end of the day there are hundreds of thousands of people flying to the United States daily, and there will be people who are not good at wearing masks, there there will be people who appear sick, and yes, there will even be quite a few people with coronavirus. The airlines will never be able to eliminate all these passengers.

Frontier Airlines A321

At the end of the line

A Frontier Airlines passenger asked to be seated again when someone immediately behind him repeatedly coughed and sneezed. The man subsequently expressed his concern to the crew again and was advised that he should drive next time and that he should be on the no-fly list. Then when he expressed concerns to the rest of the crew about the way he was being treated, they said the same.

I’m not sure the crew did something wrong by not removing the seemingly ill passenger (we just don’t know enough about it), but they certainly could have acted more professionally towards this man.

While the FAA has said it will adopt a “zero tolerance” policy towards misbehaving passengers, and Delta has even threatened to ban rude passengers, I’m not sure that makes sense.

What do you think of this Frontier Airlines situation?