American Airlines passenger sued by FAA after being duct taped to seat
American Airlines passenger sued by FAA after being duct taped to seat
Heather Wells bit, kicked and spat at staff as she reportedly attempted to open the front cabin door mid-flight
You're viewing a single thread.
One of the 'tells' of mental illness in airplane passenger stories is business class. People experiencing manic episodes tend to take luxury options regardless of means.
It really sucks, and I'm sure red flags were present in the terminal if anyone paid attention.
On the plus side, she was probably hospitalized after the emergency landing, she may not be liable.
Maybe it’s people already miserable from the crowding, the stress, the cavity search, the paperwork, the worry about getting bumped, the lack of space, the lack of freedom to even move, the lack of elbow and knee space, all the wasted ti e of getting there hours ahead of time, will their toothpaste get flagged as a threat, etc …… just trying for a little peace and comfort, willing to pay a little more to get it, but no
I've worked an ER servicing a major airport for years, I've seen tons of people like this lady come through. The vast majority of berzerk passenger syoroes involve first or business class passengers. That statement comes feom experience. 'Maybe's are like assholes, everyone has them.
I agree but all those frustrations don't proceed in a logical fashion to opening the door at 30000 feet.
Sure none of that turns people into loonies by itself. However airlines need to start taking responsibility for how miserable they make the experience - when you’re making even sane people miserable, trying everyone’s patience, certainly someone with a few screws loose is going to have them entirely fall out. It’s inevitable, and the blame should not be entirely on the loonies (mostly, but airlines should be charged as accessories)
Yeah the lack of criminal charges indicates that it was a manic episode. She probably spent several weeks in a mental health ward. Otherwise she would have been charged for the abuse to the flight attendants and others.
She also likely had a ton of drugs in her system as well as the booze. People undergoing manic episodes will take about anything.
I am not so sure about the FAA fines. The U.S. civil court system is inherently unjust. There are many draconian rules that punish the mentally ill and impoverished.
I'm a bit annoyed at the lack of charges unless she was criminally incompetent. We need to be empathetic to folks with mental illness but not every bipolar person does this shit, 'batshit' doesn't mean 'incompetent,' and a disability doesn't negate consequences.
I imagine a lot of these people with serious MH issues would've been killed (by someone) back in the day. Now we just deal with them. But that doesn't mean we should just ignore what they do and give them a free pass to commit crimes.
..or stop serving alcohol to people on an airplane
And domestic business class at that. Terrible ROI.