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Shame on Southwest Airlines

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Basil

Basil

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A woman on a southwest flight, gets a text from her husband who indicates he is about to commit suicide. The flight attendants (more than one) tells her she has to put her phone in "Airplane Mode." She pleads with them to let her call her husband - the flight attendants refuse and force her to go to airplane mode. When they reach cruse altitude, she pleads for the flight attendant to have the pilot call somebody to go check on her husband. The pilot is not notified. When she lands, she calls police to go check on him but it's too late. He is dead.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/14/widow-southwest-airlines-suicidal-husband_n_7285492.html

As someone who works with families with mentally ill loved ones, I've seen too many instances of a loved one committing suicide because the family could not get the help they needed. This is a case that could very possibly have been prevented by one phone call to police for a welfare check if it had been done in time. Now I'll admit I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I can't begin to wrap my brain around the callousness displayed by that Southwest crew. I hope the death of than man weighs on their hearts for the rest of their lives - which at least they have. Yes, this pisses me off!
 
This is very heartbreaking and insane,what is this world coming to, the crew on that flight should be terminated immediately and charged with some kind of crime. Totally senseless , my heart goes out to the woman
 
Don't think you can point the finger at SW
Don't think it would be different any where else
 
That is shameful.
 
Callous stupidity
 
Even in the worst case where they still wouldn't allow the use of a cell phone, they could have had the pilots radio ATC to notify the police. Sometimes it seems that CYA trumps common sense in this world. Yes, there are rules, but there's also right and wrong. The rules may have been broken, but it would have been the right thing to do.
 
SaxMan said:
Even in the worst case where they still wouldn't allow the use of a cell phone, they could have had the pilots radio ATC to notify the police. Sometimes it seems that CYA trumps common sense in this world. Yes, there are rules, but there's also right and wrong. The rules may have been broken, but it would have been the right thing to do.
Click to expand...
Says right in the first link I posted, right from Southwest...that the "rules" are the crew is to alert the flight deck...and they did not.
Second link is a lawsuit filed last month over ANOTHER Southwest SNAFU.
 
Heartbreaking no matter how you look at it and to me it is even worse because the airline could have let her get off the plane......it was still on the ground and at or near the gate. There are so many ways this could have been avoided...... :(
 
TOC said:
Says right in the first link I posted, right from Southwest...that the "rules" are the crew is to alert the flight deck...and they did not.
Second link is a lawsuit filed last month over ANOTHER Southwest SNAFU.
Click to expand...


True, but the full quote says, "Flight attendants are trained to notify the captain if there is an emergency that poses a hazard to the aircraft or to the passengers on board. In this situation, the pilots were not notified."

The flight attendants probably did not see it as a threat to the passengers or aircraft. The hazards of adhering strictly to the wording of the rules, and possibly overwork affecting judgment.
 
MikeP said:
True, but the full quote says, "Flight attendants are trained to notify the captain if there is an emergency that poses a hazard to the aircraft or to the passengers on board. In this situation, the pilots were not notified."

The flight attendants probably did not see it as a threat to the passengers or aircraft. The hazards of adhering strictly to the wording of the rules, and possibly overwork affecting judgment.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but if I was sitting on an airplane on the ground and received a text from a relative that they were about to commit suicide, I would expect the crew to help me - if for no other reason than just basic humanity! That this lady was pleading that her husband was about to kill himself and the crew to not take action to help this woman is inexcusable. If it were my loved one who died as a result I would hold that Airline and that crew personally responsible. No excuse. None, zero zip nada that I would ever accept!
 
Yup. "if there was an emergency". What would YOU call it? Sure looks like an emergency to me.
After the lawsuit filed last month over pure idiocy, well, maybe this will shut them down for good. Hopefully some court will decide if "manslaughter" charges apply to either.

Now...ask me if I will ever fly Southwest again.

Go ahead.

Answer would be one word, two letters. Might be preceded by a single four letter word. Depends.
 
TOC said:
Yup. "if there was an emergency". What would YOU call it? Sure looks like an emergency to me.
After the lawsuit filed last month over pure idiocy, well, maybe this will shut them down for good. Hopefully some court will decide if "manslaughter" charges apply to either.

Now...ask me if I will ever fly Southwest again.

Go ahead.

Answer would be one word, two letters. Might be preceded by a single four letter word. Depends.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I will still have to fly SW for my job because in many cases there are no other options. But beyond that which is absolutely necessary, no way.
 
I'm not saying they were right, just that corporate America these days tends to not encourage thinking outside the rules and that can blow up in their faces. Certainly something should have been done and they hit the flight crew who wouldn't take a chance on bending the company rule, maybe for fear of losing their job.
 
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