What to do if you get pulled off a flight: pilot's advice

Imagine such an unpleasant situation - you are kicked off a flight. The flight attendant comes up and says: “Sorry, but we don’t want to fly with you, go to the exit!” Channel author "Captain A320" on Yandex.Zen suggests figuring out what to do next.

Photo: Shutterstock

Why might the crew ask you to leave? In fact, there is only one reason - concern for flight safety. That is, about the rest of the passengers. The motives of the crew can and should be understood, this is indisputable. It is much more interesting to understand the reasons that prompted them to think that your presence on board threatens the safe (and comfortable for everyone) completion of the flight. But the reasons may be different:

• the smell of alcohol (of varying degrees of intensity) and the corresponding behavior;
• inappropriate behavior for no apparent reason. But this is a very vague concept and, unfortunately, allows for a very subjective assessment. You can even include humor like: “You have to wear a seat belt to make it easier to collect corpses.” It is unknown how your neighbors will react to this, and you will be to blame.

So what to do in such a situation? The first and most important thing is to remain calm. Take a break of 5-10 seconds and think about why you are being asked to leave the board? Maybe you're drunk? Maybe they did something wrong? And not necessarily on board, perhaps they got into a fight with someone on the bus? Maybe... It could be anything. If you understand what prompted the crew to drop you off, it’s a little easier. If not, well, consider it chaos. Just don't tell anyone about this.

The most important thing in this situation is to give the impression of a calm and adequate person. To impress not even the crew, but the other passengers. It will be very easy to find them and interview them as witnesses. How should a calm and adequate person react to any (even absurd) demand of the aircraft crew? That's right, he must fulfill it. Report this immediately to the flight attendant who comes to you. “Dear girl, I am ready to fulfill all the requirements coming from you as a representative of the aircraft crew!”

Be sure that this statement will greatly surprise her. Very. Rowdies and air hooligans do not behave this way. Never. And this will raise the first doubts in her head - do you really belong to this category?

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And now you can ask what is the reason for such attention to your person. Once again emphasizing that you are ready to disembark. Yes, this is a public game, but if you do get dropped off, the crew's vague answers will work in your favor. The biggest mistake in such a situation would be to raise your voice and argue. Even if you are initially as pure as a baby, after raising your voice, you are 100% air rowdy. There are absolutely no options, because your argument with the flight attendant was seen by the entire cabin. Purely formally, such a dispute will be regarded as a “refusal to comply with the crew’s demands,” there are plenty of witnesses, and if it even comes to calling the police, any court will side with the airline.

Let's continue. If you are given a reason, think about whether you are guilty? If yes, well, there is no use arguing, go out. If not, it’s still useless to argue, go there. In 99% of cases, our exit is at the front of the cabin, and that’s where the senior flight attendant is waiting for you. And here - stop. This is a chance. It's worth talking to him. Now the flight attendant who originally dropped you off is a witness for the defense. (If the elder initially dropped you off, then he has already seen that you actually fulfill his requirements). Try talking to him in the front kitchen area. That is, where there are no passengers. Calmly, without raising your voice, ask again what your fault is. And explain how you see this situation. The chances are high - it is more difficult to drop you off than to let you fly away. Even if there is a smell of alcohol: if the crew sees that there will be no problems with you, there is a high probability that you will fly away.

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If it doesn’t work out, now you can go to the airline representative. Demand from him a document justifying your disembarkation and calmly write a pre-trial claim. Although I’m almost sure that if you did everything right, it’s unlikely that it will come to that.

Original column published on the blog. "Captain A320" on Yandex.Zen

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