BetterMost, Wyoming & Brokeback Mountain Forum
The World Beyond BetterMost => Anything Goes => Topic started by: starboardlight on September 28, 2006, 04:55:34 pm
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http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/060925ta_talk_collins
I can't even imagine this happening at this day and age, but it is the New Yorker. I have the link to the story above, and copied the text to below. Read on.
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HERE TO THERE DEPT.
AIR KISS
Issue of 2006-09-25
Posted 2006-09-18
American Airlines Flight 45—departing Charles de Gaulle at 10:40 A.M., arriving J.F.K. at one each afternoon—is a tourist’s delight: timed just right to avoid late checkout, leaving time for one last Kir Royale at Les Deux Magots. On August 22nd, the coach cabin was packed with vacationing New Yorkers. Ralph Jackson (21A) and David Leisner (21B) were returning from two weeks in France, while Huffa Frobes-Cross (21F) had stopped over in Paris on his way back from South Africa. Assigned to seats 20A and 20B were George Tsikhiseli, a television journalist, and his writer boyfriend, Stephan Varnier. “We’ve been together only four months,” Tsikhiseli said last week. “So it felt like a honeymoon.”
Twelve days earlier, British police had foiled a terrorist plot to blow up airliners. Heightened security had delayed the flight by about two hours, and passengers, by the time they boarded, were ready to relax. “I had a José Saramago book I was looking forward to reading,” Leisner said. “And then I was going to take some melatonin and have a little nap.”
Shortly after takeoff, Varnier nodded off, leaning his head on Tsikhiseli. A stewardess came over to their row. “The purser wants you to stop that,” she said.
“I opened my eyes and was, like, ‘Stop what?’ ” Varnier recalled the other day.
“The touching and the kissing,” the stewardess said, before walking away.
Tsikhiseli and Varnier were taken aback. “He would rest his head on my shoulder or the other way around. We’d kiss—not kiss kiss, just mwah,” Tsikhiseli recalled, making a smacking sound.
In the row behind them were Leisner and Jackson. “They were like two lovebirds,” said Leisner, who is a classical guitarist. Frobes-Cross, a Columbia grad student who was sitting across the aisle, had overheard the stewardess’s decree, too. “First thing I catch is ‘You have to stop touching each other,’ ” he said. “And I’m, like, Whoa, that’s really weird.”
Leisner and Jackson, who were “astounded,” leaned forward to ask if they’d heard correctly. When Tsikhiseli and Varnier confirmed that they had, the four men summoned a stewardess and asked to speak with the purser.
A little later, the purser appeared at Row 20. She was, by all accounts, calm and professional; to the men’s surprise, she said that she knew nothing about the incident and had not instructed the stewardess to tell Tsikhiseli and Varnier to stop touching each other.
“Which stewardess was it?” she asked.
One of the men pointed out the stewardess—a woman with, as Jackson put it, “Texas hair, like from the nineteen-sixties.” According to Leisner, the purser rolled her eyes and said, “Oh, say no more. I know.”
The purser asked the men to describe what they’d been doing, and she acknowledged that their behavior had not been inappropriate. Tsikhiseli then asked if the stewardess would have made the request if the kissers had been a man and a woman. Suddenly, Leisner said, the purser “became very rigid.” Contradicting what she’d told them before, she stiffly said, “Kissing is inappropriate behavior on an airplane.” She then said that she was busy with the meal service and promised to come back.
Half an hour later, the purser returned, this time saying that some passengers had complained about Tsikhiseli and Varnier’s behavior earlier. The men asked more questions. Who had complained? (She couldn’t say.) Could they have the stewardess’s name, or employee number? (No.) Would the purser arrange for an American Airlines representative to meet them upon landing at J.F.K.? (Not possible.) Finally, the purser said that if they didn’t drop the matter the flight would be diverted. After that, Leisner said, “everyone shut up for a while.”
Maybe an hour later, the purser approached Tsikhiseli and said that the captain wanted to talk to him. Tsikhiseli went up to the galley and gave the captain his business card. The captain told Tsikhiseli that if they didn’t stop arguing with the crew he would indeed divert the plane. “I want you to go back to your seat and behave the rest of the flight, and we’ll see you in New York,” he said. Tsikhiseli returned to coach.
Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American, said that the stewardess’s injunction to the men was reasonable, and would have been made whether the couple was gay or straight. “Our passengers need to recognize that they are in an environment with all ages, backgrounds, creeds, and races. We have an obligation to make as many of them feel as comfortable as possible,” he said. (He added, “Our understanding is that the level of affection was more than a quick peck on the cheek.”) But a customer-service representative named Terri, reached last week on the telephone, offered the opinion that kissing on airplanes is indeed permissible. “Oh, yeah! Sure. I’ve seen couples who are on honeymoons,” she said. “They just don’t want you to go into the bathroom together.”
— Lauren Collins
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Hypocritical double standards I say. Just like the time the mall security guard told me i couldn't kiss my boyfriend, even though there were striaght couples practically all over each other.
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Tsikhiseli and Varnier were taken aback. “He would rest his head on my shoulder or the other way around. We’d kiss—not kiss kiss, just mwah,” Tsikhiseli recalled, making a smacking sound.
In the row behind them were Leisner and Jackson. “They were like two lovebirds,” said Leisner, who is a classical guitarist. Frobes-Cross, a Columbia grad student who was sitting across the aisle, had overheard the stewardess’s decree, too. “First thing I catch is ‘You have to stop touching each other,’ ” he said. “And I’m, like, Whoa, that’s really weird.”
Obviously what some people think is nothing much in the way of affection is something else to other people.
While I say the jury is still out on how affectionate they were with each other, the fact remains that straight people have sex in airplane bathrooms, under blankets and literally sit in each other's laps in first class, and the captain does not call them into a private conferences to complain about their behavior and threaten to divert the plane. ESPECIALLY not first class passengers.
Double standard indeed.
I would have been a lot more rude to the purser and pilot than these guys were. Fine, fucking divert the plane. I can't wait to talk to the media about why we diverted when we land."
That would have shut up the captain pretty quick, I think.
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This is just terrible! >:(
it doesn't surprise me in the least however. I can just imagine what would happen if I was caught holding hands with another guy or putting my head on his shoulder in a restaurant or other public place around here. If we didn't get thrown out, we would be beaten up... or both.
I wonder what will happen to American Airlines now that this has been exposed. Will the negative media exposure encourage them to rethink their policies?
Probably not. >:(
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Good grief.
Guys, I'm really sorry that this sort of attitude is so common.
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I've had SOOOOOOO many problems with customer service at American Airlines that I refuse to fly them if at all possible. This is ridiculous and it would have made me mad enough to write a letter to the corporate office if I witnessed this exchange. I have zero tolerence for attitudes like theirs.
Not too long ago I was flying into O'hare, my flight had been cancelled and it had been a LONG day for the agents and passengers. One family was trying despartely to get their mom to see her dying son and the agent quickly snapped back "Miss, I don't CARE what your problem is." The family was being very polite the whole time. I was stunned! I don't care how tired someone is, or what a bad day it's been, you don't treat your passengers like that ever. Especially if they aren't being even the slightest bit hostile. I reported the incident and agent to the corporate office and got a voucher that I used for another nightmare flight. Hopefully that's the last time I have to board an American Airlines plane.
Sorry for the tangent. Needless to say, I'm not happy with American Airlines. I'm sure for every rotten agent/stewardess there are five more nice ones. I just wish I could meet them someday. Two thumbs down for American! Maybe someday they'll learn how to treat all passengers with respect.
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I'm really stunned at that. >:(
Could they have the stewardess’s name, or employee number? (No.) Would the purser arrange for an American Airlines representative to meet them upon landing at J.F.K.? (Not possible.) Finally, the purser said that if they didn’t drop the matter the flight would be diverted.
And even if you take out the dispicable gay angle - I would dispute this type of customer service.
And this..
Not too long ago I was flying into O'hare, my flight had been cancelled and it had been a LONG day for the agents and passengers. One family was trying despartely to get their mom to see her dying son and the agent quickly snapped back "Miss, I don't CARE what your problem is." The family was being very polite the whole time.
Am I lucky to never have flown with American Airlines??
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I would have been a lot more rude to the purser and pilot than these guys were. Fine, fucking divert the plane. I can't wait to talk to the media about why we diverted when we land."
That would have shut up the captain pretty quick, I think.
no kidding. try explaining to the media that you diverted the plane because you have a problem with two men kissing. that'll be great for your career and wonderful publicity for the company.
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OMG. Two guys are kissing. Time to raise the terror alert level to red.
That's how I'm starting to feel about this story. Are we a security threat?
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Guys excuse me for butting in on this thread, but I read it and steam is coming out of my ears!!! ??? ??? ??? I,m not gay btw, but I,m certainly NOT homophobic, NEVER have been, NEVER will be, and this sort of thing makes my blood boil. ??? ??? Its, not as if one of them was giving the other one a blow job in the isle ffs!!! ??? ??? He had his head on his shoulder!! Jesus H Christ, remind me someone, what century do we live in?? Ok rant over, sorry bout that lol but I was so cross I had to comment lol.
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This makes me very sad. And angry. Especially considering it is my husband's employer. Of course I don't believe for a second that they'd have treated a young man and woman the same way. I don't because I've seen straight couples who were all over each other on some of my flights and thought to myself "Hey, get a room." But then I just rolled my eyes and went back to reading my book. It irritates me when people in general play tonsil hockey in crowded public places - I just find it rude. But I have a hard time believing that two gay men, even in this day and age, were doing that on a crowded flight. And a peck here and there would never be the least bit irritating to me no matter who was doing it.
In the captain's defense, all he heard was a story second-hand, embellished quite a bit, I'm sure. Ed tells me he's had to say something like that to passengers a few times before, mostly who were becoming drunk and unruly in First Class. Never to people making out too heavily, though. And even when he did, it was more to placate the flight attendants who were becoming overly-agitated about the whole thing than because he thought the safety of the flight was actually being compromised.
Flying is definitely not what it used to be. Even in the late 80s and early 90s, it was much more glamorous. Now there are way too few flights and way too many people trying to be on all of them. Airplanes have become glorified buses. And with all that stress, flight attendants who were already stressed out just by the nature of their jobs are pushed to the limit. I'm not defending them at all, believe me. The most pissed off I've ever been, I think, is because of the way an American Airlines flight attendant treated me. And my husband works for them! She knew that, and treated me like shite anyway - or perhaps because of it. Ed and I often talk about how sad it is that I have to fly another airline to experience decent customer service.