We hear of passengers being kicked off flights all the time for exhibiting crazy behavior, and once in a while we even hear of pilots or flight attendants being kicked off planes for being drunk.
However, this story is next-level crazy. The captain scheduled to operate United 455 from Austin to San Francisco yesterday evening boarded wearing flip flops and casual clothing, then stood in front of the cabin and made a crazy announcement over the PA. She allegedly explained that she was going through a messy divorce, talked about how Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are both a@@holes, and that she’d let the co-pilot fly the plane, as he’s a “man.”
Some passengers felt uncomfortable and got off the plane, and eventually the police was called and the captain was removed from the plane as well.
So, she's off the flight. pic.twitter.com/4Lzq8O9jzY
— Randy Reiss (@undeadsinatra) February 11, 2017
The flight ended up being delayed by about two hours on departure, as they tried to find a new captain.
Per Live and Let’s Fly, here are the Tweets from @undeadsinatra, who was one of the passengers on the flight:
So, y’all. I’m shaking right now. I just left my @united flight 455 ‘cos the captain demonstrated that she was not mentally in a safe space.
She got on in street clothes and asked if we were ok with her flying like that. We all said okay. Cute, right?
So then she says “sorry, I’m going through s divorce.” Ummm uh oh
Then she identified an interracial couple in first class, I think in an effort to say “yay unity” but it was was awkward.
Then she’s like “I don’t care if you voted for Trump or Clinton. They’re both assholes.”
At that point, I was like “YOOO!!!!”
And she looks at me and is like ” Did I offend you, sir? I apologize. You don’t have to fly if you’re not comfortable.”
So I jumped up and was like “peace, out.”
Oh wait, at some juncture she said she was gong to be on Oprah
Anyway… I stormed off. It took a few, but half the flight followed my [lead]
They were going to rebook us. But now they are delaying us 1 1/2 hours till we get a new captain.
I hope she gets the help she needs. That was scary as fuck. Back to the @united lounge for relaxing cheese cubes.
So, she’s off the flight.
WE HUGGED GOOD-BYE Y’ALL
She was crying. She apologized. I wished her well & said I hope she gets the help she needs.
I kid u not, her parting words: “We should be on show together. We should write a book.” OMG.
New captain on board. Apologized. Professional. We’re off. Radio silence. RIP my Twitter mentions. Xxxo to the world!
First of all, I feel bad for the captain. Obviously she’s in a very bad place at the moment. At the same time we all have to take accountability for our actions, and it’s incredibly irresponsible for to show up to operate a flight in that condition. It’s the same way I feel bad for pilots or flight attendants who ruin their career by showing up to work drunk. Still, we all have tough times in life, but when you endanger other peoples’ lives with your behavior, that really crosses the line.
The most confusing part of this story is how she was allowed to board the plane in the condition she was in. I get how she got through security, since you don’t have to be in uniform for that. Since this flight was out of Austin, I also assume this wasn’t the start of the trip, since United doesn’t have a base there. So her co-pilot and flight attendants had likely been flying with her the day before. This raises two questions:
- Why didn’t her co-pilot or flight attendants report her before she got to the airport (or at a minimum before the plane was boarded)? Clearly she wasn’t in an okay state, if for no other reason than that she showed up in flip flops and jeans.
- How on earth did the gate agent allow her to board the plane? Gate agents have to verify who boards the plane, and clearly someone showing up in flip flops and out of uniform shouldn’t be allowed to board.
Like I said, I hope the lady gets the help she needs. What a messy situation…
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