I just read a horrible story that happened on a United Airlines flight. Basically, a disabled elderly lady was sitting in first class in the bulkhead where there’s no under-seat storage. She had a small purse and a fully collapsed cane that she needed help putting into the overhead bin. She politely asked the flight attendant if she could help put it up.
The Flight Attendant refused claiming it was against her union rules. Eventually, another passenger helped this lady out by putting the cane in the overhead bin for her.
The Flight Attendant would not let this go. She felt that this passenger was talking down to her. She ended up getting the pilot and security involved resulting in a delay on the flight. The plane actually had to return to the gate. Security saw no threat and left. The flight proceeded after this delay.
No mention of any apologies by the Flight Attendant or pilot. It seems that these Flight Attendants have the ability to claim that any passenger is a risk to the safety of a flight for any reason or no reason at all. This is all without repercussions. I find it hard to believe that a disabled elderly passenger could create a flight risk in this situation.
Bringing up some alleged union prohibition is also troubling. In fact, Federal law requires airlines to assist disabled passengers. We are not talking about putting a heavy bag in the overhead bins. This was a cane that the passenger brought on board.
Also add in that this passenger was in first class. Traditionally flight attendants take extra special care for passengers in first class. I guess United treats all their passengers the same. In other words, poorly.
Airlines are in the customer service business whether they like it or not. They should try to treat their passengers better. This is not Canada that only has one airline. There are at least 4 or 5 other choices.