Originally Posted by
ecam
I'm kind of scratching my head at the OP too. If you were so offended why didn't YOU intervene? Yet you whine that others should have and didn't?
You say you're not an employee. My first thought was DAL retiree. But whatever.
And after nearly 2 decades in the airline industry, I have to agree with the myob, not worth it crowd. Any FA who is ranting about controversial subjects, in uniform, in a public space is just spoiling for a fight. You intervening is going to give them exactly what they want, and it's going to be 3+ of them against you and maybe your FO if you haven't been a jerk the whole trip. Not to mention the nearby passengers who are most definitely going to YouTube the ensuing screaming match. Getting written up for harassment and unprofessional conduct bypasses the CPO and goes directly to the snowflakes in HR. Who's side do you think they're going to believe? Then the CPO is instructed to administer your discipline.
Also, as said above, in this day and age, your Captain authority ends when you step off the plane. Regardless of how it should be, used to be, or your interpretation of the FOM/GOM description for CA authority. So yeah, if it's happening on the plane, you may have a leg to stand on, but you still intervene at your own peril. Off the plane? I absolutely wouldn't get involved. It's simply not your problem and not your place to be the karma police.
Let me guess. You think you deserve $300/hr (or more)? Act like it. I don't think that the OP was being a jerk about it (and he IS retired FedEx/Delta) and maybe should have just shook his head and forgotten all about it.
But at some point you either warrant that uniform, 3 or 4 stripes and the money we all claim we deserve, or we don't. Very few pilots are "spoiling" for anything other than a routine trip, but there are times when we need to step up just a little bit, even if it is a bit of a hassle and not necessarily within the confines of the airplane. I really don't give a...flip....what any snowflake in HR thinks either. The pax can video me all day long, because all they will record is someone acting in an even-tempered, professional manner.
I had a passenger that literally had the "F" word in large print on the back of her t-shirt, while waiting in the gate area for the flight I was flying. I walked up to her and very politely (and discreetly) said, "If you want to fly on this plane you will have to cover that up." I didn't raise my voice, nor make a "scene." She did comply and put another shirt on over it and that was the end of it. The gate agent thanked me, by the way.
I think we can at least do that much. And yes, there are no doubt a handful of guys out there "spoiling" for a scene or confrontation. Most of us aren't.