Skeptik
Banned
Travellers thrown off Mango flight
August 27, 2007
Wendy Knowler
It's not pleasant to have to share cramped aircraft space with disorderly, foul-mouthed passengers, and for the safety and sanity of the rest of us, they ought to evicted before take-off.
But who decides whether someone is behaving atrociously enough to warrant calling in the police to escort them off the plane? The captain.
But as he's cocooned up front in the cockpit, it's the cabin crew who tell him who needs ejecting.
On August 19 on Mango Airlines' Joburg to Durban Flight JE 283, one cabin attendant saw to it that two men were escorted from the plane, both of whom spent a very uncomfortable night at OR Tambo airport before flying home the next morning.
I'll call her by her initials for now - AN - as Mango has not confirmed her identity to me.
So what was their "crime"?
It apparently began with Durban software developer Sean Pearce saying "crapairline.com" loudly as he sat in aisle seat 19D.
Pearce says the remark was prompted by the fact that the Mango flight he'd taken to Joburg two nights earlier had been delayed and items were stolen from his luggage. Flight JE 283 was also delayed.
"She (AN) was furious. She accused me of being abusive and told me she was going to get me thrown off the plane," he said.
"Then she shoved my elbow on the armrest - I shoved back - and started trying to barge her way up the aisle."
The man who had a boarding pass for seat 18C, the aisle seat diagonally across from Pearce, was Imraan Franks.
He was among those standing in the aisle at the time to allow a couple to take the window and middle seats next to his.
"Suddenly, from behind, someone grabbed my right shoulder and pushed me, hard," he said.
"It was the stewardess, saying something like: 'Move, I need to get past!' She was very rude and aggressive.
"I said: 'Hold on, I'm just waiting for these people to take their seats,' and then she threatened to get me thrown off the plane."
According to both Pearce and Franks - who had not met before, and who told me their stories separately last week - AN soon returned from the front of the plane with the cabin controller.
"He told me he would not tolerate anyone swearing at his crew, at which point I admitted I had used the word 'crap' and apologised," Pearce said.
Franks said he accused him of being rude to AN. "I very calmly tried to tell him what had really happened, but he was in no mood to listen."
Shortly afterwards both men were asked to surrender their boarding passes and then two police constables entered the plane and asked them to accompany them off it.
"I was led out of there like a common criminal - it was totally humiliating," said Franks.
The aircraft took off with the men's luggage and they spent the night in the airport terminal, Pearce trying to sleep on the Mango Airlines countertop - an image unlikely to feature in a Mango ad - and Franks wandering aimlessly about.
No charges were pressed.
The men found themselves sitting next to each other on Mango Airlines' 5am flight back to Durban the next morning.
"Can you believe it, AN was on the flight," Franks said.
"I avoided eye contact. There was no way I was going to risk being thrown off again."
Both men have made affidavits and complained directly to Mango, but at the time of writing, they hadn't had a response.
When they collected their luggage, both found that their bags had been "rifled" through, although nothing was missing.
What nobody on the plane knew at the time is that Franks is a police inspector with the detective branch at SAPS Chatsworth in Durban.
"I don't think it would have made any difference," he said.
"They had made their minds up and I didn't want (anyone) to think I was an arrogant policeman."
Pearce admits to having had three beers in an airport pub during his long wait to board the plane, but strongly denies being out of control or disorderly.
Franks says he doesn't drink alcohol at all.
What witnesses saw on Flight JE 283
Given Mango's complete denial of any wrongdoing on the part of AN and the cabin controller on Flight JE 283, ConsumerWatch went in search of more witnesses …
# Eric and Adrienne Barrett of Umhlanga were seated right next to Franks.
"He was standing up to let us get to our seats when that woman tried to push past him," said Adrienne Barrett.
"She was really rough and abrasive. So Mr Franks said: 'Hang on a minute', at which she took offence and stormed up the aisle."
Barrett said the cabin controller, who then appeared on the scene, was aggressive and refused to listen to Franks, who was calmly trying to explain what had happened.
By this time, both AN and the controller had removed their badges and refused to reveal their names, she said.
"I told them their behaviour was outrageous, and that he (Franks) had done nothing wrong, but I was threatened with eviction as well.
"At no point did the controller ask for the passengers' side of the story, or attempt to resolve the situation."
As for Mango's claim that fellow passengers had welcomed the removal of the men, Barrett said she found that hard to believe.
"I only heard people protesting at their treatment - it was totally uncalled for.
"Yes, the other guy (Pearce) may have been a bit stroppy at first, but he quickly apologised for what he'd said. It should have ended there."
# Ruben Masondo, a Joburg businessman, was seated in 18D - across the aisle from Franks and directly in front of Pearce.
"I was also standing up, blocking the aisle, when she (AN) came pushing through," he said.
"The person who was rude was her, not him (Franks)."
He also spoke of the controller's refusal to listen to Franks' side of the story, and, like Barrett, he believes that fellow passengers were anything but happy to see the men ejected.
"When the pilot came over the PA to apologise for the delay and blame it on the 'disruptive' passengers, some passengers shouted: 'No, it wasn't them, it was your staff!' "
# Wayne Cammidge was in seat 19E, right next to Pearce.
He recalls Pearce saying "www.crap-air.com" and says AN said she would not tolerate that type of language on her plane.
Franks had "not stepped out of line in the slightest", he said. "He was completely rational, respectful, correct and tolerant."
He said the controller's handling of the situation was "atrocious".
"He was too aggressive, without compassion for any of the customers."
Passengers in the area were "very angry" at the treatment dished out, especially towards Franks, he said.
# Gregory Buchler was seated in 17A, the row in front of Franks. He wrote: "Flight JE 283 from Joburg to Durban was a disgrace.
"The plane was already delayed and a further delay was caused through the action of AN bumping into the passengers."
He said the crew members involved had "no skills in human relations".
"Disciplinary action should be taken against all relevant parties. That was my last flight with Mango."
Crew called police as final resort, says airline
I e-mailed the airline's PRO a summary of Pearce and Franks' account of the events, along with the e-mails of two passengers who were seated close to the two men.
Both witnesses had independently volunteered their statements, expressing their horror at the treatment meted out to the two men.
In response, I received a statement saying: "The fact that as a final resort the crew had to call the police to remove the disruptive persons from the aircraft indicates the level to which the negative behaviour had escalated.
"While the first step is always to resolve any eventuality through dialogue with individuals, Mango will not hesitate to call on the SAPS should such behaviour continue unabated."
Mango claims to have received statements from other passengers from that flight, praising the cabin crew for their "speedy, efficient resolution of an unpleasant incident on board, due to the behaviour of the two individuals".
No details about the "disruptive behaviour" or "unpleasant incident" were provided.
From the accounts of the evicted passengers and the four witnesses in the immediate area, it would appear that Mango's "guests" were swiftly reclassified as "disruptive persons" through a perceived slight to a cabin controller and evicted solely on her version of events.
If this is true, the crew members in question have much to gain from a customer-service refresher course.
But that doesn't seem likely, given that the airline's official response doesn't even suggest further investigation.
http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4002997
I was under the impression that the Mango-pip airline is simply a re-branded offshoot of SAA with allegedly less creature comforts - although hard to imagine a scaled-down version of SAA's economy class...