Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Delta Airlines Doesn't Like Menudo


The headline isn't talking about Menudo the soup which I think everyone loves. I mean in my mind there really is no better cure for a hangover than a bowl of menudo. Now, if you are a teenage girl, then you may prefer the group Menudo to help you through a rough morning, and in that case you are in luck because that is who this post is about.

Seems that one of the teenagers in Menudo was on a Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta to Knoxville in one of those tiny regional jets. The flight attendant walked by before takeoff and told him (Carlos Olivero)to turn off his iPod. He did so. Now, I don't know if this woman once got rejected by Ricky Martin and has a thing against Menudo or what, but the next time through the aisle she told him he had to put it in an overhead bin. He said that he didn't want to put it up in the bin because it might get smashed. She then walked away and reported to the pilot that the band member was giving her attitude and wanted him off the flight.

So, security came on and dragged him off the flight. Of course the flight attendant probably didn't realize that literally 75% of the plane were the other Menudo band members, their tech crew, management and families, including Carlos' mother. So, when Carlos got kicked off the entire group exited with him. So, what went from a full flight went to a nearly empty flight with just a handful of passengers.

The entire group has vowed to never fly Delta Airlines again.

Look, I understand it is "federal law to follow flight crew instructions." Fine, I get it. I also get the fact that this is a regional airline where the flight attendant is lucky to be making $10 an hour and since she had a bad day decided that she was going to exert some power over a teenager. The kid turned off the iPod when she asked him to. I'm sure he probably would have stowed it as well except for the fact that the overhead bins on those planes are so small you can't even fit a bag lunch inside so there probably wasn't room.

At what point do you draw the line? If she had asked him to stand up and sit down or play a game of Simon Says and he hadn't done it, she could have had him escorted off. I'm actually surprised the kid wasn't tased and held in a holding cell for a few hours to see if he wasn't some kind of terrorist. I think when the plane emptied and Delta realized they were going to start losing thousands upon thousands of dollars of revenue each day from this band, that things became all smiles and ass kissing. Too late.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't get why they would ask him to put it in the overhead bin unless he still had it on. If he could just put it in the seat pocket, that would be fine.

She probably doesn't have a job now.

jax said...

power trippin flying waitresses!
i've flown a lot and they've never asked me to stow away mine just turn it off.

Anonymous said...

lol@flying waitresses

Probably she had PMS.

Tania said...

Yeah, I've been asked to turn it off, but never to stow it. There's no such rule as far as I know.
She was probably having a bad day and this was her equivalent of kicking the cat. Bet she's sorry now, though! I hope so. I hate these 'little Hitlers' who misuse their tiny wodge of authority.

Ms. said...

Yup. Bad day and took it out on a teenager because she thought she'd get away with it.

~crazy peanut~ said...

I worked with "Flight Attendants" for years and I found that the majority were nothing but arrogant and rude.

'cept if you were a pilot, then it was...Captain, my legs are open and I am ready to be boarded.

Anonymous said...

It's always that way with powerless people who get a little bit of power - clerks at the DMV, the insurance adjuster, etc. Qualified to work a minimum wage job, and they get a chance to make someone's day or week or month miserable, and they relish it. It's about the same thing as a short man complex.

Lynne said...

At the risk of becoming the target of cyber-tomato throwing, I sided with the flight attendant when I read about this. Maybe Carlos looked like an arrogant uber-twerp who would turn on the iPod the minute her back was turned. I bet she has run across one or two of those in her career.

If I were on that flight, I would have been seriously cheesed off at Carlos for delaying the flight. Put the iPod up, kid, I've got a connection in Knoxville. An iPod is not a life-support system, even though so many act like it is.

And in the end, when you are on a plane, you obey the flight attendants. Period. Complain after you land.

schneefloeckli said...

I have to strongly disagree here. I would NEVER have obeyed and put my iPod in such a tiny bin. It's an expensive toy and if it gets smashed, I'll be without any music at all for the holidays. I think putting it in the seat pocket would have done the trick.

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