An Incredible Note-Passing War Broke Out On A Thanksgiving Day Flight And Things Escalated Quickly

[n2doc]

ABC's "Bachelor" and "Bachelorette" producer Elan Gale was on a flight yesterday live-tweeting his feud with a fellow passenger.

According to Gale's tweets, which were picked up by Buzzfeed's Rachel Zarrell, a female passenger was complaining that she might not make it home for Thanksgiving dinner.

She seemed to be oblivious to others on the flight, who also needed to get home to their families for Thanksgiving.

The battle began before the flight boarded. Gale tweeted about the woman at 11:05 a.m.

much more

http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/An-Incredible-Note-Passing-War-Broke-Out-On-A-5021852.php

[Gormy Cuss]

1. Both of them were acting like spoiled children. n/t

[NYC_SKP]

2. Yep. Pathetic entitled first-class travelers with nothing classy to do, I guess. nt

[pnwmom]

12. He says she was being abusive to the flight attendants. n/t

[Gormy Cuss]

30. He wrote not once, but twice, that she

could eat his dick. That's 7th grader level of maturity.

[Bonobo]

3. Both jerks, but here's how I score it:

Last edited Sun Dec 1, 2013, 02:04 AM - Edit history (1)

Gale was a passive aggressive twerp and picked a fight. Furthermore, telling a woman to "eat your dick" is WAY over the line -especially when he started the fight.

A customer DOES have a right to complain. And no, they do NOT have to be nice and thankful at all times. It is an employees job at such times to apologize for the delay as often as they need to. It is not a personal thing when you are an employee. You represent the company that employs you and your ego must go out the window.

BUT, the woman committed assault when she slapped him and there is no excuse. A woman has no more right to hit someone than a man. It is equally bad. A crime, in fact.

[bettyellen]

6. I agree totally.

there is a first time for everything!

[Bonobo]

7. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket today! nt

[bettyellen]

8. yes, and play 16 next time you have a chance!

[Warren DeMontague]

11. Or: what happens when Boomer and Millennial self-centered navel-gazingness collides spectacularly.

Thank God I'm Gen X!

[MADem]

13. I score it as follows.

The guy could have skipped the crude body part reference. The slap was fair play for that alone. Those two items cancel one another out, so they are removed from my calculations.

The woman was insufferable. She deserved to be called out for her bad attitude, which was affecting people around her.

It's just not nice to berate service employees for acts of nature that are beyond their control. They are there to ensure FAA mandated aircraft safety, not listen passively while abuse is heaped upon them.

I agree with "Elan's" after action report.

Overall loser: Diane.

Now, if Diane had said "Thanks for the wine, yeah, I was acting like an ass, buy me another and I'll overcome my social anxiety and apologize to the aircrew" I'd have scored this the other way.

[Warren DeMontague]

15. If the part about dying of cancer is true, I'm inclined to cut her some additional slack, obviously.

Of course, OTOH, if someone associated with her lied and made that up to excuse her now-public shitty behavior, well, that's even worse.

[MADem]

18. I went looking for that--haven't found anything yet.

Not a reference anywhere. You'd figure the Daily Mail, always First With the Dirt, would have that, but not a peep.

Of course, that does not mean it's not the case, but any claims of terminal disease deserve to be vetted and verified. I'm not taking this particular passenger at her word, or the word of an unnamed relative.

I have relatives in the airline industry; I hear these kinds of horror stories all the time. Sometimes there's the added fun of a drug-induced rampage, or someone who is medically non-compliant and starts seeing things mid-flight.

I don't think aircrew get paid enough! I suppose, really, if I'm "picking a side," I'm siding with the airline employees who didn't need that drama and negativity on top of having to miss a nice dinner with family!

[Warren DeMontague]

19. Everyone is packed in there to the gills, and miserable. Its not the crew's fault.

Flying just plain sucks, these days.

[MADem]

20. They were in first class, though--so their "suck" was like most folks' unbridled luxury.

I can imagine how annoyed I'd be if I spent a crazy amount of money on a first class ticket (too rich for my blood) and had to listen to some person spewing her negativity everywhere, for no good reason, save she was mad, and just had to vent.

It's not like the flight attendant can say "Oh hang on love, I'll tell the Captain to put the hammer down and fly faster so you make your connection, then!"

Sometimes, it's a bummer and ya gotta just deal with it.

Remember when that asshole did a hoax-bomb at the airport in Jacksonville a little over a month ago? I was on my way there when that happened. I was boarding a plane when they said "Ooops--never mind, everyone wait!" We waited for a couple of hours, then our flight was cancelled. I had to go get my checked stuff, and reschedule, and I had somewhere I NEEDED to be the next day, too. I know enough to know that the gate agents have to get you there in a certain window, so when they tried to tell me I had to wait two days I wasn't having that, but I didn't get shitty with them when the only way for me to get there was to fly way too far away and then come in from another angle (something I suggested to them, actually). It was just a "Damn the bad luck" situation, and there ya go. I was up all night, took off at the ass crack of dawn, arrived exhausted the following afternoon, a bit late, but I got there and I didn't rip a flight attendant a new one as therapy.

[Warren DeMontague]

21. Oooh, I missed that part.

In that case, fuck em both.



You are absolutely right, though. People need to be clear on the concept- if the plane is delayed, its delayed. Frankly, I'd rather have them delay my flight then, oh, say take off with an engine that they think might be broken.

It pisses me off when they cancel the flight because they haven't found enough people to be on it to make their money, that's about it. If there's a safety or weather issue- even a fake bomb one (because, of course, who knows) it's obviously understandable- if annoying.

[MADem]

22. Ahhh, but wait! There's more! Well, maybe....

It turns out that "Elan" has put out "hoax twitters" in the past.

Supposedly, someone who was (supposedly) on the plane who knows "Elan" said that Diane was on the plane as well, but that person is a professional comedian by trade.

It would not surprise me if this entire twitter enterprise, the whole notes, drama, etc., (we never see a pic of Diane, we just see notes and drinks) was a piece of performance art, down to the note from the "relative of Diane" put up on the internet.

The fake stuff this guy has done before includes hand written notes. Left by "others" in one case!

This chain jerking stuff is popular on the internet nowadays. It's supposed to be "ironic" or something!

Anyway, make of this what you will: http://melissawashere.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/why-isnt-anyone-questioning-the-diane-story/#comment-2051

[Warren DeMontague]

23. Next you'll tell me Andy Kaufman and Jerry Lawlor didn't really hate each other.

Pshaw!

[MADem]

24. Heh, heh... this does have a whiff of Kaufman about it, doesn't it?

I can get snookered as well as the next person, but there's just something a bit ... I dunno know ... off about this.

Odds are, there's just one Flight Attendant working in First, the rest are in the back of the plane schlepping. Let's assume, because it's a pre-thanksgiving flight, that first class and coach are full--of paying customers and non-revs. I kinda doubt the one FA working the full load up front there has the time to be sliding wine glasses and notes to Diane, or giving our 'hero' vodka nips to give to Diane. He or she would be humping like a stevedore just trying to get all the foodie 'services' done and keep people drunk, er, I mean medicated, er, I mean occupied with an adult beverage!

Or who knows? Maybe it IS real, like Santa, or whatever!

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. It seems suspicious that an attendant would deliver a "shut the fuck up" note

Because that's what "if you drink it now, you won't be able to use your mouth to talk" says. That was the first point at which Elan got involved. The last thing, from a professional point of view, that a flight attendant wants is a passenger insulting another, especially one already angry. And delivering an 'eat my dick' note could be grounds for dismissal. And I don't think they had handy envelopes to hide the messages they were writing on coasters.

The whole thing smells like a hoax.

[longship]

4. The woman is dying of cancer.

She was upset because she was going to miss her connecting flight to spend a last Thanksgiving with family.

That was reported by a relative.

Élan was a jerk. He should have let the flight attendants handle the situation; they're the pros. Instead, he becomes a jerk, and then blogs it all.

Not just a jerk, a fucking jerk.

[karend62]

5. show a little kindness

I don't know if the dying-of-cancer story is true but there are always 2 sides to every story. Elan chose to vilify this woman for his own personal amusement. He is a professional provocateur - he wanted to elicit a response from the lady on the plane and that's exactly what happened.

This childish exchange has attracted a surprising amount of attention. Google auto-suggest provided "Elan Gale" after I typed the first name. The story has appeared in the Huffington Post, Us Magazine, and other high profile media. Since the overall tone of these reports has been laudatory, I would expect copy-cat attempts in coming weeks. Pity the flight attendants who must deal with vigilante note writers in addition to the usual stresses of the job over the holidays.

[MADem]

14. She is? Why didn't any of the newspapers say that? Do you have a link?

"Reported by a relative" in what paper?

[AZ Progressive]

17. What a fucking jerk, Elan. Anyone would complain like that given the circumstances

[Matariki]

9. He wrote a good summary after the event...

http://theyearofelan.tumblr.com/post/68424148654/diane

snip:

I know I can come across as abrasive. I know I can seem harsh. But what I’ve never done is be unkind to a person in a service position.

I don’t care what’s going on with you: Don’t be rude to people who are doing their job.

Don’t do it.

Don’t dismiss them. Don’t act like they are less than you. Don’t abuse them just because you’re the customer and “The Customer Is Always Right.”

If you’re the customer, you’re only right if you’re kind, polite and positively thankful. If you’re not, you’re a jerk, and that’s the bottom line.

[MADem]

10. He's right. If you want to be home with your family on a holiday, odds are the person who

is telling you to stow your seatback safely in the upright position would like to be home with their family, too.

[AZ Progressive]

16. I don't care how rude she was but he shouldn't have used such rude and misogynistic language

I don't think any woman would not get anything but angry at the fratboy talk at the end of those notes.

It seems to me that he wanted to put gas on the flames, and he deserved that slap in the face.

[CorrectOfCenter]

25. I'm not fond of those that treat service employees with disrespect.

I've had customers argue with me over the semantics of how I told them we were out of stock of an item.

It's a shame that all who act like this in public are not subjected to public ridicule.

[Shrike47]

26. His language was unacceptable. Her behavior, if true, was unacceptable.

You can't make the plane go faster by bitching at the flight attendant. On the other hand, if you sent me a note saying 'eat my dick', you could get an unpleasant response from me.

[muriel_volestrangler]

29. Is "this isn't about you" really that rude?

OK, it's not 'gracious', but did that woman (if this is a real story) actually say anything genuinely rude? She basically refused to be calmed down. "This isn't about you" and "you people I barely know" (if this insulting producer reported this truthfully) are not insults.

If this did happen, then Gale goaded the woman repeatedly, until she finally snapped and slapped him.

[Buns_of_Fire]

27. In my experience, "Eat my dick" seems to be a tipping point in polite disagreements.

For example, I've found that telling a TSA agent to "eat my dick" doesn't get me through the line any faster. "Eat my dick" surely didn't get the officer to reduce that speeding ticket to a warning.

On the other hand, being a jerk to service people doesn't win you any points, either. Having cancer, if true, doesn't automatically convey sainthood, and it isn't a free pass to be an ass to everyone you meet.

My Solomon-like solution, therefore, is to invite both of them to step outside and settle their differences like civilized people sometimes do. Preferably at 25,000 feet,

[mainer]

31. An airline pilot once told me: disruptive passengers are scared

It's all about fear, and they show their fear by being abusive or loud. He had a few passengers like that over his career as a commercial pilot, and he always handled them kindly, with their fear in mind -- and never had too boot anyone off. Sometimes, it just takes a little compassion, which Elan Gale didn't apparently have. He didn't know why that woman was freaked out about missing Thanksgiving. Maybe she was in personal crisis. He should have left her alone.