Lesbian actress booted off Southwest flight for 'excessive' PDA

[tropicsgoddess]

They didn't say exactly what she did in terms of PDA that caused her and her partner to be booted off the flight. I'll admit with SO I turn to Ms.Mushy Gushy Monster. Holding hands, hug, a little peck on the lips or cheek, okay. But getting slobbery like a Saint Bernard with your partner and groping like mad...nuh nuh. I don't think so. Doesn't matter if you're straight, gay, bi, lesbian or whatever.

[BrenDAnn]

I know I said i was done with this thread, but i'm just gonna leave this here. Official statement from Leisha/UHH: http://www.msopr.com/press-releases/...ines-incident/

[Evandril]

If anyone was behaving in a way that caused people to complain to a flight attendant, I've *no* doubts they'd be asked to stop. Is it more likely that people would find 'abnormal' things more objectionable? Yep...but that isn't the fault of the airline, that's society. Losing one passenger instead of a group only makes sense, as much as it sucks...and if they *listen*, and do as they are asked, everything is good.

As far as Southwest being against gays....Check out their site

http://www.southwest.com/html/southw...lbt/index.html

As an example, we are the official airline of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the Gay-Straight Alliance Network (GSA), and the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC).

I do not see an employee owned company supporting AND discriminating at the same time...but that could just be me.

[Gravekeeper]

I know I said i was done with this thread, but i'm just gonna leave this here. Official statement from Leisha/UHH: http://www.msopr.com/press-releases/...ines-incident/

Sounds like she's backing off her previous rant in a bit of damage control. But she's still on the homophobia angle. Upgraded from "small peck" to "modest kiss". Still twisting the flight attendant's words. If anything the full quote from the flight attendant sounds like the attendant trying to find a way to ask them to stop that was as polite as possible.

Also it was the passengers that complained it was excessive. I still fail to believe that there would be multiple complaints and a request to stop based on a single kiss. If it was a single kiss it would have come and gone without anyone really noticing unless they were staring straight at them the whole time. If it was a long, slobberly audible kiss, people would have had time to notice. If it was ongoing, they would logically ask it be stopped. I can't see a flight attendant just wandering over randomly to scold them because they kissed once on the entire flight. It doesn't make sense and if that really had happened Southwest would have thrown that employee under the bus already.

She could settle this all right now by releasing the video she said she took of her conversation with the flight attendant. I'm assuming it may not show her in the most favourable light if she's being this reluctant with it. If she was as pissed off as she came across as being on Twitter, that video should have been plastered everywhere within hours. But its not.

[Nyoibo]

but I would think any person with half a brain and a tad of common sense would think better than to full on make out or grope or get that close on an airplane.

That's what the bathrooms are for. Or at least you wait until it's dark and no one sees you.

[Andara Bledin]

I have to wonder...do they ask EVERY couple who is showing equal amounts of PDA to stop?

Completely irrelevant.

They didn't ask the couple to stop because of excessive PDA. They asked the couple to stop due to complaints of excessive PDA. The airline had a choice of weathering a storm of multiple groups of passengers bitching that they weren't willing to put a stop to such a "shameful" display, or they could ask the single group being complained about to refrain from doing an unnecessary activity for the duration of the flight.

Honestly, their decision to request that they stop kissing was a no-brainer.

The fact that the women, rather than think, "Oh, hey, we're making a bunch of other people uncomfortable, maybe we should do the decent thing and refrain until we're off the plane and then we can go at it like love-weasels and they can suck it up," they went with, "Oh, hey, we're making a bunch of other people uncomfortable, but, hey, they must be a bunch of homophobic assholes if they don't want to see a loving couple making out on their flight so we're going to raise a huge stink over it because it can't possibly be that it's because of the PDA itself and has to be because we're gay."

Hailey claims to have recorded the incident but has not released the recording. Why not? If it was as innocent as she claims, then there should be no problems, right? The recording should support her claims of discrimination against her due to her orientation. Actually, I have to wonder why a recording was made at all if there wasn't some expectation of a confrontation.

And, again, they were not thrown off for kissing. They were removed from the aircraft for engaging in a verbal altercation with the flight attendant.

I'm really tired of seeing the reasons why these people get ejected being so blatantly mischaracterized in an attempt to make it about something other than what it is. If you get into a shouting match with a flight attendant, your ass is going to be escorted off the flight; it's just that simple.

^-.-^

[Evandril]

If I'm given a pillow that's not fluffy enough, and I yell at the attendant about it...I'm getting removed from the plane. The rule is VERY simple... "If I yell at the flight attendant, I get removed from the plane" The whole 'We were on the airplane less than 5 minutes when all was said and done' does NOT jive with everything else that's been said...as I have a hard time believing they got on the plane, kissed, were rebuked for kissing, got into the argument and had it get heated enough for them to be asked to leave....within 5 minutes. I just flew at the beginning of the month...and I don't think I was *seated* within that 5 min...and I know a flight attendant would have had to fight to get to me as everyone was trying to stow their luggage. The only way that time makes sense is if they stopped in the entrance of the aircraft to kiss...which would mean they are in the way of everyone else trying to sit down...In that case, *I* would complain, and normally I'd just enjoy the show :P

[Andara Bledin]

Actually, the whole "five minutes" thing is how long she was arguing with the attendant, not how long she was on the plane.

A quote from another article, from a CNN blog:

Southwest adds in a statement to CNN that "Additional reports from our Employees and Customers onboard flight 2274 during a stop in El Paso on Sunday now confirm profane language was being used loudly by two passengers. At least one family who was offended by the loud profanity moved to another area of the cabin."

So, during a stop in El Paso, the altercation happened. And this "decent" "family-friendly" woman was shouting profanities at the flight attendant and making enough of a ruckus that at least one family was prompted to change seats to get away from her.

So, once more, this isn't about the kissing or that they're gay. Put the discrimination card away; it's been declined. And you're doing a disservice to everybody who actually is the target of discrimination.

They got booted for being SCs. End of story.

^-.-^

[HYHYBT]

This is a customer service employee, I doubt it was a demand so much as a "Can you please stop? You're making other passengers uncomfortable". As for her reaction, Southwest tactfully used the word "Escalated"

Phrasing it as a polite question does not make it less of a demand if you cannot answer with no. Mind you, I'm not taking sides on this, but dealing in generalities.

Well, we did kiss. On the lips, nothing more. But more than that ... We had our heads down, sides of foreheads (and the tops of our heads) touching, and we were giggling up a storm.

That's an awfully inconvenient position from which to kiss on the lips

They asked the couple to stop due to complaints of excessive PDA.

Suppose, for a moment, that the couple in question was NOT engaging in excessive PDA in the first place. Just suppose that, say, they'd only been holding hands, and happened to be seen by someone who didn't approve, told his friends an exaggerated version or whatever, and then they all complained. Or, suppose they (or Generic Couple B) were doing nothing whatsoever, just sitting there, and someone with a grudge against them noticed they were on the same flight and got the complaints started. Or imagine any scenario you wish where a group of customers are making totally invalid complaints about someone else. Is it still a "no brainer?"

Again, I'm not saying this is what happened. I don't believe it is. But I despise the whole "you yelled at me, so it doesn't matter if I was being totally unreasonable in the first place" mindset. For one thing, it's too easy to take advantage of from the other side, if you have a mind to do it. Try this some time: tell someone who is speaking in a normal voice to stop yelling at you. Insist again that they are yelling when they deny it until they get angry enough that their voice rises. It's a child's game, but I've known adults to pull stuff like that.

[Evandril]

Unfortunatly, the flight attendant would be the one caught in the middle...if she was responding to complaints from other passengers, she can't know what they were doing when she wasn't looking. If they weren't doing anything more than was normally socially acceptable for hetro customers, and they would have behaved calmly...I'm sure everything would be fine...But they, according to all accounts, escalated things...which got them kicked off the plane

[Gravekeeper]

Phrasing it as a polite question does not make it less of a demand if you cannot answer with no. Mind you, I'm not taking sides on this, but dealing in generalities.

Irrelevant, the plane is the private property of South West. You do not have the full spectrum of rights when on someone else's property and they're well within their rights to ask you to do or not do something. Hence her using the word "illegal" in one of her righteous outage statements was pure stupidity. The grown up thing to do is complain after you get on the ground to someone with the authority to do something about your complaint. Throwing a fit on an airplane these days is so incredibly stupid its not even funny. Nevermind a screaming, swearing in front of children shit fit against an frontline customer service drone just trying to do their job.

Or imagine any scenario you wish where a group of customers are making totally invalid complaints about someone else. Is it still a "no brainer?"

Your hypothetical scenario requires a premeditated conspiracy and would also require that those not involved to not defend the subjects in question. >.>

Again, I'm not saying this is what happened. I don't believe it is. But I despise the whole "you yelled at me, so it doesn't matter if I was being totally unreasonable in the first place" mindset.

If you flip your shit on someone in public, you've lost whatever argument you were having, frankly. Children yell and scream and curse at other people in public. Adults do not.

[Andara Bledin]

If you flip your shit on someone in public, you've lost whatever argument you were having, frankly. Children yell and scream and curse at other people in public. Adults do not.

Bingo!

The moment she decided to start screaming at the attendant, she turned into a classic SC.

I'm appalled that so many people are willing to defend SC behavior. But I'd have to have more faith in humanity being able to read past the headlines to be even marginally surprised.

^-.-^

[Lace Neil Singer]

Well you see, if it's a celebrity they simply can't be an SC!

Sorry, but to me whether it's a celebrity or a Jane Doe throwing a shitfit on a plane and screaming at a stewardess, it's still bad behaviour and still deserving of getting chucked off the plane.

[Andara Bledin]

Here's a couple of blogs where the writers (one gay, the other a mother and fan of The L Word) consider that, "Oh, hey, maybe she brought it on herself and it isn't the airline discriminating against her."

Come {Fly} With Me blog at Tumblr

Turtle Pie's Drool Session at Wordpress

^-.-^

[HYHYBT]

Irrelevant, the plane is the private property of South West. You do not have the full spectrum of rights when on someone else's property and they're well within their rights to ask you to do or not do something.

Not even slightly irrelevant, because I was not speaking of whether they had the right to argue with the flight attendant. Whether something is right or not and whether something is A right are totally different questions. It is entirely possible to have THE right to do something which remains wrong to do, and it remains a demand to order someone to do something no matter how it is put unless they are free to decline.

Your hypothetical scenario requires a premeditated conspiracy and would also require that those not involved to not defend the subjects in question

Not so. In fact, I described it in a way that specifically would not involve either premeditation or conspiracy... unless you consider deciding to go along with something on the spur of the moment a conspiracy.

If it helps any, I do know also that there are gay couples who would, while doing something innocuous, notice someone seeming uncomfortable with that and keep turning it up just to aggravate them... including, if it comes to that, telling off the flight attendant once it gets that far.