Having flown them a couple of times in the last few months, I've become something of a fan of JetBlue: clean, comfy, convenient, cheap flights.
I obviously wasn't one of those inconvenienced during the flight delay - flight cancellation horror-shows of last year - but when it comes to JetBlue, what's not to like?
Well, if you're Gokhan Mutlu, there's plenty to be, well, pissed off about.
It seems that Gokhan was traveling from California home to NYC on a freebie travel voucher - a buddy pass - that had been given to him by a buddy who works for JetBlue. Buddy seats are a pretty much seat-of-the-pants way to travel - the ultimate in stand-by. And you get what you pay for. And what Gokhan got was an order from the captain to give up his seat to a stewardess who wanted a break from sitting on one of those nasty little jump seats near the rear exit (and toilets) that you see the stews perched on during packed flights.
Apparently, only JetBlue employees can sit in those jump seats, so Gokhan was asked, errrrrr, to go sit in the toilet.
After a long, bumpy while, he was permitted to come back out and reclaim his seat.
This being America, Gokhan is suing JetBlue for $2M.
My first reaction to this was, 'Oh, come on. This certainly is an insult and an affront, not to mention a humiliation. But $2M?'
My second thought was imagining myself in such a situation.
You know what, I would want a pretty big fat payout, too. Beggars can't be choosers, and all that but, if an airlines needs a "real" seat for their stews to take turns sitting in on long flights so they're not stuck in those rotten little jump seats, then the airlines should dedicate a seat for that purpose - not ask a passenger, even one who they think of as a freeloading hitchhiker to give up his seat.
Of course, the captain might not have had the nerve to ask a woman to give up her seat, sexism being what it is (and, occasionally, working in your favor under the retro guise of chivalry). I'm also guessing El Capitan wouldn't have asked anyone to give their seat up for a steward.
So, how could the captain have handled this better:
- He could have asked nicely (in his best Right Stuff, Chuck Yeager drawl): "Hey, buddy, seein' that you're in a buddy seat, and seein' how Susie Stewardess ain't feelin' all that well, d'ya mind parkin' in the head for a while and givin' her a break. 'Preciate it."
- He could have asked for volunteers: I'll bet a few people would have taken turns standing for 10 minutes at a shot in order to give the stew a break.
- He could have let Gokhan sit in the darned jump seat: So what if this is a violation of JetBlue policy, or FAA policy? Who was going to rat him out? Unless he had enemies in the flight crew....And even then, he could have warded off that by telling on himself. ("We had a situation in which the stewardess was unable to sit on the jump seat, so I made a decision to....")
- He could have not pulled rank: Even if he didn't ask nice, once he got some resistance, he should have backed off gracefully and gone to Plan B (find a volunteer).
- He could have pulled rank: Before approaching Gokhan, the pilot could have contacted someone in management, told them that he needed the seat, and gotten a few bargaining chips. Maybe Gokhan would have gone nicely for a couple of free round trips that weren't buddy seats. (And while the pilot was asking for the comp tickets, he could have informed HQ that he was letting Gokhan sit in the jump seat.)
On a flight, the captain's the manager. As such, wouldn't you think that he could have come up with a better solution to his need (or was it desire) to find a better seat for the stewardess than ordering a passenger into the toilet. Management!
And it's just amazing to me that in this day of word-of-mouth - make that word-of-keypad and word-of-'net - in which a story like this makes the rounds (and the blogs) in warp speed, someone might not ask himself, 'is this not the sort of dumb thing that could get me in trouble?'
Apparently not.
And speaking of getting in trouble, the person I feel worst for in all this is the poor schnook of a JetBlue employee who gave Gokhan the buddy seat to begin with. If Gokhan cashes in on this, I hope he throws a few bucks his buddy's way. (And I hope the poor buddy never has to run across the captain, who will no doubt not be feeling all too thrilled with whatever happens.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's where I saw the first report on this: on Comcast.
JetBlue is just really, really lucky that they did not hit some severe turbulence while the guy was stuck in the bathroom. It would be pretty easy to be injured while getting bounced around like a kernel of corn in a popper in there, and they'd be looking at a more severe lawsuit. And I'm pretty sure that they were breaking FAA rules by doing this.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't accommodate a passenger in a seat with a seat belt, you don't let him on the plane. Period.
I haven't flown JetBlue in years (I took a couple of flights from DC to the west coast on them back when) and I remember it being an incredibly pleasant flight experience. Kind of sad that things have changed so dramatically.
This is amazing - First, the passes aren't free - he paid $45 plus taxes. Not that means anything. Next, Gokhan by using the pass signed his life away in all of the small print of using the pass, so the suit won't even see the light of day. I haven't seen anything where Gokhan had violated any pass policies or presented a danger to anyone. What happens is this: the airport crew tries to get everyone aboard that they can - buddy passes fly at a low priority and can't use the jumpseat. The airport may have made the mistake by either seating lower-priority Gokhan and gave the jumpseat to the FA without asking whether she was willing to do so, or the FA showed up at the very last second and they had push the flight - a frequent occurence and you never want to take a delay for non-revenue passengers. During flight, some cat got out of the bag that Gokhan was actually a lower-priority buddy pass user and the FA had a snit, or it could have been the FA working the flight who felt it was her duty to resolve this. For all that I love JetBlue, they have some of the more "absorbed" FAs in the business - they preach "the values", but there is a wide swath of folks who are complete primas once they have their wings. Sadly, this will be one of those things where a large number of low-paid employees will lose yet another benefit because of an isolated incident. The FAA will be more than happy to dole out a whole lot of love to the carrier, flight deck and crew on this silliness - more than any court room would. And sadly, someone's career will end, it's just a matter of which or how many.
ReplyDeleteI just feel bad for the poor airport employee who closed that flight up - they'll probably pin it on that person as much as the pilot.
ReplyDeleteThe deadheading FA is definitely gone. The employee who provided the pass may be gone (it is a terminable offense, though this a gray area as long as his buddy kept his cool).
I've seen completely psycho things go on with these deadheading crews - insisting on a whole row to themselves on a nearly sold out flight, cramming everyone into the middle seats who paid money. It’s a tough job working 15 or so days a month and only 6 hours on each of those days.
If JetBlue were wise, they'd fess up, settle, and give him a lifetime pass and use this incident for training - maybe make him a sort of corporate mascot and trot him out.
Another thing that contributed to this - JetBlue's computer systems that are used at the gates are horrible - standby and non-revenue list management defies logic and the under-experienced gate agents always have considerable issues with loaded flights. I'm seen whole lists of 20 get blown out in a keystroke by staff because they couldn't handle the pressure.
This is a joke, and only because im bored out of my mind i'm putting a post up. There is no way in hell that guy was told to sit in the bathroom. could you imagine loosing a bathroom on a 6 hr flight because some schmuck locked himself in it?
ReplyDeleteIf i was waiting for more then 10 mins, i'd rip the door off myself and drag him out and then make him sit on the floor like the bitch he is.
2nd if I ever saw a flight attendant sitting in a seat next to me, I'd say make yourself useful and get me some bluechips!
Please stop reading what im writing and kill yourself.
with love,
Your Daddy.......
I don't believe it for a second. I've flown with buddy passes many times. You pay at least $50 on a good day and once you have secured a seat that is your seat for the flight. Most of the time when you're in the air you are not aloud to move around the cabin let alone hang out in the bathroom.The reason this is such a cheap way to fly, and I can vouch for this, is that you may not make it on the flight. If you don't you wait for the next flight. And someone who uses a buddy pass is not beggar but rather someone who will fill that left over seat. Just think of it this way. Why the hell not?
ReplyDelete