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Rude and Unreasonable flight attendants in the air.

S__Comkowycz
Explorer C

My husband, granddaughter and I were traveling on flight 2775 from Bradley airport in Hartford, Ct. to MCO in Orlando, Fl. on Sept. 01, 2019 at departing time 1:15 pm.  We were seated towards the front of the plane on the right in seats D, E,&F.  

 

I'm 65 years old and was seated on the aisle.  I have traveled on many, many flights in my lifetime and I've never had the difficulty I had on this flight.  Southwest flight attendants have historically been fun, light-hearted, and respectful.  I have a small Brahma purse on a long strap.  I wear the strap across my chest and take the seat belt and pull it across the purse strap and tuck the purse on my side.  There is no way it will fly around during take-off or landing.  The reason I do this is that I do not want to put my purse on the floor because it is small and I cannot reach it once in the air and I'm short and cannot easily reach it in the bin above.  The majority of my travels, the flight attendants say nothing.

 

On this flight, the female attendant, with Chesnut colored hair and blue/green eyes insisted, with a more than necessary authoritative attitude,  that I unbuckle my seat belt and remove my purse and place it under the seat in front of me.  I complied without a word.  The purse was placed under the seat and with the strap being long, I placed the strap on my knee so when we got into the air, I could easily retrieve it.  No problem.  The strap was simply laid on my knee and not tethered to anything.  The flight attendant did not object.

 

Upon preparation for landing, an African American bald male flight attendant, who's demeanor throughout the flight was as though he was being "put out" by any passenger's request, a "roll the eyes" type nonverbal attitude was his standard.  He came up to me and demanded that I put my purse under the seat in front.  Again, I complied and draped the long strap onto my knee.  In a rough, loud, embarrassing, coercive voice, he yelled at me to put the strap under the seat as well.  I started to explain that I would not be able to retrieve it and he yanked the purse and strap out of my hand and threw it so far under the seat that for sure I would not be able to reach it and when we landed at the feet of the passenger in front of me, items in the side pocket fell out on impact and the strap was strewn in the aisle, a safety risk for passengers and flight attendants to trip on.  I said nothing as I did not wish to make a scene and upset other passengers but I was so angry, upset, mortified, and felt completely disrespected for no good reason.  My family said, "He had no right to do that" and I responded, "You are right but we are going to keep quiet for now and I'll take care of this later.  He, the flight attendant, continued to say that the strap obstructed the two passengers in the middle and window seats (my family).  That is ridiculous.  If anyone were to pass, the strap would fall to the ground under the seat.

 

I calmed myself and when the flight landed, I asked my family to sit and allow other passengers to disembark.  Once the front of the plane unloaded and the two flight attendants who paid so much attention to my purse strap on my knee began cleaning the cabin. I asked the girl if she would assist me and pick up my purse since it was too far under the seat for me to reach.  She laughed in my face and scoffed to make fun of me but she did pick up my purse (but not the items that fell out).  I thanked her. I then proceeded to leave and commented to the man who grabbed and yanked the purse out of my hand that his actions were not appropriate and that I had not violated any FCC code.  He began to yell at me and the other female attendant from the back of the plane yelled for me to get off.  

 

This was an unfortunate occurrence that seemed like these two were looking for a reason to vent on a passenger for whatever reason.  They had a negative attitude from the start of the flight toward everyone and they carried their negative attitude throughout the flight.  This has never been my experience with SW airline flight attendants.  Safety is first and foremost of importance with airplane travel and the flight attendants are the first responders.  Those who fill those positions need to be ready, willing and able to deal with true emergencies and issues, not fabricate and create problems.  I'm certain the flight attendants could be identified from the information provided.  I would like them to be counseled on their behavior and whatever disciplinary actions their supervisors feel is appropriate.  They did not represent SW Airlines in a positive light.

 

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to communicate my concern.

 

Sincerely,

Sharon Comkowycz

1 REPLY 1

Re: Rude and Unreasonable flight attendants in the air.

bec102896
Aviator A
Solution

@S__Comkowycz 

 

I'm sorry to hear of the experience you had on your recent flight as that is not the service a lot of us have come to know and LUV. 

 

Being that this is primarily a customer to customer forum I recommend you reach out to Southwest directly so they can look in to this. You can reach out to Southwest directly though any of the methods listed here: Submitting a Suggestion and/or Complaint 

 

Hope this helps

Blake