A situation between flight attendants and passengers grew tense when an American Airlines flight to Charlotte, North Carolina was diverted to Raleigh, where it sat on the tarmac for three hours. Traveling is always a little stressful and that can become even wor*e when delays are involved. What does not help in that situation is passengers who can’t follow the rules or be polite to one another.
This was the nig*t*are situation that musician Brent Underwood found himself in and he decided to pull out his phone to record and share the story with the world. In Underwood’s video you can hear the fru*tra*ed flight attendant asking a passenger to put on his mask and the passenger giving him gr** in return.
It was after this back-and-forth when another passenger called the flight attendant a drama queen. This seemed to push the flight attendant to his breaking point as he went on the intercom system to speak with the entire plane.
He told the passengers that they had made the entire challenging experience a living hell and that if they did not change their behavior then he would be for*ed to request that the pilots bring the plane back to the gate.
This news was very upsetting to the plane packed with passengers, and it seemed to inspire the unruly group to settle down and listen to the flight attendants. Flight attendants already have a challenging job and in this situation it was made worse by customers who can’t follow the rules. It makes sense that the flight attendant would feel like making a statement.
In the video, the flight attendant can be heard on the intercom saying, “Shame on the passengers who have made this flight a living hell for the flight attendants.” The plane bro*e into applause at this statement, and it’s clear that the majority of passengers felt the same way as the flight attendant.
The American Airlines employee continued, “We’ve been delayed here. We have catered to you the entire flight. We do it because we love this job. But the fact that we get i!sul*ed and mistreated by passengers over things that we cannot control, it is dis!us*ing.”
Underwood spo*e with Inside Edition about the i*cide!t and how he felt it was taken care of. “They were absolutely awesome. It was a stressful situation for everyone. I cannot commend them enough for how they handled it,” he said with a smile.
People who viewed Underwood’s video agreed that the flight attendant did a good job. One commenter wrote on YouTube, “He’s only human, his professionalism and restraint was definitely put to the test.” You could tell from the flight attendant’s voice he was worked up, but he spoke with authority and did not lose control over the situation. This is an important skill for someone who is trained to assist in emergency situations like flight attendants are.
American Airlines told Inside Edition, “(They) expect their passengers to treat each other and their staff with respect.” Hopefully, in the future, these dif*icult passengers will think twice before acting disr-espectf-ully to flight attendants and other service workers.