Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures!

[MattSh]

Live and Let's Fly has been silent the last three days as I weighed how I wanted to cover what happened to me on a United Airlines flight from Newark to Istanbul last week. The situation was both traumatizing and highly embarrassing and I wanted to ensure that I had ample time to consider what transpired before hurling any accusations or failing to understand the other side. But frankly, the more I replay the incident in my mind, the more certain I become that I was wronged. Here's my story:

Last Thursday I was scheduled to fly from Newark to Istanbul on United's direct flight. The 767-300 was outfitted in a two-cabin configuration, staffed by a legacy United crew, and I had been upgraded to business class. It was my first time on this reconfigured aircraft and my first longhaul in the Continental BusinessFirst seat. Naturally, I wanted to provide a review for you.

As I settled into my seat, I pulled out my iPhone to take a few pictures of the seat. When I held the phone at forehead level to take the picture below, a flight attendant came running over and told me that I could not take any pictures of the cabin. She referenced this section of the Hemispheres magazine:



The allegedly off-limits picture:



http://upgrd.com/matthew/thrown-off-a-united-airlines-flight-for-taking-pictures.html

[leveymg]

1. McDonald's has the same policy.

Somehow, someone got the idea that corporations can play in loco parentis to "protect the privacy" of persons on corporate property, and to protect the company's operations from being recorded.

[Xipe Totec]

2. They got the loco part right. The rest, not so much. nt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

12. Their place, their rules, for better or worse

However they cannot stop pictures from being taken from outside.

[dembotoz]

16. so if my rug rat grand child has a bday party there i am not allowed to take pictures?????

little kids will learn all kinds of words.....

[leveymg]

17. The airlines, like McDonalds, allow you to video your companions and kids, but not strangers & staff

[KharmaTrain]

3. More Post 9/11 "Mentality"...

Several years ago I attempted to take a picture of my son looking out the plane window and was told it was against FAA regulations to take pictures in the plane...I was told it was to prevent "terrorists" from casing out planes or taking pictures from above (they obviously haven't heard of Google Maps). A friend got into a real mess when he attempted to take some shots of planes moving around the tarmac while waiting for a flight. He was detained...TSA told him that pictures of planes at the airport were against regulations (he never was able to find that "rule&quot ...he was forced to show the agent what pictures were on his camera and to remove the ones he had just taken. By the time it was all said and done he missed his flight and meeting...had to take a later flight and pay for an extra ticket. On the way back he was again detained by TSA...he was on "the list". He hasn't flown anywhere since...if he can't drive or take the train, he won't go...

[annabanana]

4. Interesting link, tks. . . .n/t

[Ninga]

5. This story is scary from the point of "when reprimanded, best not try to explain". The FA

in this story knew she would be backed up by her crew, which is a powerful tool in the hands of the less honorable.

[NoPasaran]

6. I hope a parachute was made available

[Laelth]

7. k&r for exposure. All hail the police state. (sarcasm) n/t

-Laelth

[backscatter712]

8. Back in the Cold War days,

we used to bash the Soviet Union for cracking down on photography - why they were afraid that freedom might break out!

Now we do the same shit here.

[magical thyme]

10. same shit, and for the same reason

[backscatter712]

9. Very likely, DU's own right-wing authoritarians are going to pounce on this thread...

and they're going to scold us for undermining the security they fetishize. After all, to protect us from those EEEEEEEVIL TERRORISTS, who have about the same odds of hurting us as a bolt of lightning, we need to give up some freedom.

[magical thyme]

11. I wonder how some people get out of bed in the morning

what with the Dust-Dragon monsters that could be lurking underneath waiting to attack...

[reorg]

13. The headline should read: thrown off for being a jackass

Okay, I understand perfectly well that people don't like these rules. I don't like them either and don't think they make sense. I have also been told by flight attendants that I can't take pictures and was surprised and baffled about it.

I also asked back, why? They told me, and that was that. Since then, whenever I take photos from inside a plane I take great care that no flight attendant can see it. No problems so far, and I got myself some pretty cool aerial photographs since.

No, if you bother to read the entire article you will find that this young man with his enormous sense of entitlement got the boot because he kept arguing about the rules, even threatening to make a ruckus on some blog. Obviously, he was getting on the nerves of the flight attendant busy with preparations for take-off, on a flight that was already late.

Listen to this:

I'm not some kettle traveler ... I am extremely loyal to United Airlines, fly them often and almost exclusively ... I'll be a 26 year old million miler flyer later in the year.

What most likely occurred: the flight attendant complained about some arrogant young twit in Business Class not taking a no for a no, the purser tells the pilot, the pilot decides, okay, get the asshole off the plane, period.

Now, let's all cry about it for a while and then give it a rest.

[backscatter712]

14. Right on schedule. n/t

[reorg]

15. thank you for the compliment

I'm going to cite it as a reference, LOL!