British Air blows it

From the Evening Standard:

Like any two-year-old Marcello Ferrand is prone to the occasional tantrum. So when an aircraft crew tried to make him wear a seatbelt he panicked and sat under the seat - the kind of scene any parent will recognise.

However, for the staff of a British Airways flight from Milan to Heathrow it demanded immediate action - which resulted in the police being called and Marcello, along with his grandparents, being hauled off the plane.

The airline's ground staff then refused to let the elderly couple and Marcello, who lives in Kensal Rise, travel on a later flight. They then had to pay £300 for tickets with Alitalia to get home.

In this case the British press has come in on the side of the passengers, but it isn't always so. Some years back a fellow I know was publicly branded as a dangerous maniac after an incident on a BA flight that could have come right out of Collodi. The protagonist -- let's call him Alberto -- was a mild-mannered Italian antique dealer returning from the USA to London, where he then lived. During the flight, his seat was repeatedly kicked by the passenger sitting behind him. Alberto got up and asked him to stop, whereupon the other passenger became confrontational and drew a knife. Alberto recoiled, raising his arms, and backed right into a stewardess who was coming to see what the fuss is about. The stewardess cried bloody murder as she collided with Alberto; the knife man, thinking quickly, dropped his weapon and shouted, "he's got a knife!" Dogpile on poor Alberto, who was then trussed up, and on arrival, marched off by the police. Sorry to say, this story has no happy ending. Alberto ended up leaving England, a branded innocent.

ADDENDUM: And now another airline horror story, as a Northwest flight attendant is charged with attempting to drug a noisy infant.

Posted by David on March 12, 2003 9:59 PM