AirBear

An American Airlines F/A had one of pilots physically stop a pax on the Jetway while deplaning in CLT. They thought he had taken 3 photos that might have them in it. They demanded the pax unlock his phone and let them have it to view the last photos taken.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/new...3Rk?li=BBnbklE

01110011

Yeah that’s going to be “I’ll acars dispatch about it for you” and nothing else.

What were they thinking.

4dalulz

Get a warrant next time. Clowns.

chihuahua

Move over mask enforcement, we have people taking photos again. Understandable behavior from an FA on a power trip, not sure why a pilot would risk an assault charge at work by getting into a possible physical altercation with a pax that didn't do anything and was simply trying to get off the airplane. Also, isn't policy usually to not have people come back on the plane after they're off? Clown world continues.

Xdashdriver

Somehow I don't think being a flight attendant qualifies as being the government under the 4th amendment.

Myfingershurt

I wanna know why FAs aren’t required to take a psyche eval or personality test when they interview. Surely some of these psychos could be weeded out.

rickair7777

No but they're qualified to be charged with assault and kidnapping. Yes physically detaining someone and preventing them from leaving without legal basis is generally kidnapping.

Citizens arrest laws are usually narrow, often needs to be a serious crime and if you're wrong about their guilt then YOU are subject to all manner of criminal and civil penalties... I don't think a citizen gets qualified immunity for an honest mistake (cops do).

Taking pictures in public is generally legal, and that includes pictures of other people. You're legal limited (civil and maybe criminal) in what you can do with those pictures, but taking them is generally legal. Only exception I can think of is "upskirt" type photos, some or many jurisdictions make that a crime. Even upskirt photography would probably not be serious enough to justify a citizen's arrest in most places. And I don't think there was any legal basis for a citizen to seize or tamper with the suspect's property.

But yeah the pilots should have stayed out of it, and advised company... this was most definitely a job for the GSC and station manager

rickair7777

I agree with that except the part about "didn't do anything".

There's a whole lot of smoke here for there to be no fire, was the pax a perv arsehat who was blatantly exercising his legal freedom to take pics of pretty women in public... probably while they were bending over the cart?

Or was he an aviation journalist who was ignoring airline policies even though he would have known better?

CincoDeMayo

Or why Captains say “if anyone gives you a hard time, we will remove them, no questions asked”

Give FAs the illusion of power, backed by the enforcement of the CA, and see what kind of monster you create.

Myfingershurt

Yeah, i just figured captains said that stuff to make the a-line feel like part of the team. Or the captain is hoping to get lucky by buttering up the FAs. Either way i just thought that was lip service. On the other hand I’ve had to remind multiple captains about the social media ramifications of inserting themselves into a situation in the back. Red coats. Call them. That’s why they’re there. They don’t have a multi million dollar career on the line.