I am an ethnic American.

Why didn't the good doc go to the back of the plane to take a crap?

Flying is a privilege, not a right. In the wake of 9/11...all precautions are taken now. There are even...get this....WHITE people questioned and detained for abnormal behavior on planes.

I will quote a famous cop from South Park...."move along people...nothing to see here."

Sorry your "brown" friend got his feelings hurt....maybe next time he will follow directions 40,000 ft up in the air, or choose to go to the ass end of the plane to take a dump.

 

If, what all this story said is true, the stewardess has a right to be alarmed by what he was doing. If she would have said that the pilot was in the pisser and get back to your seat, all of this could have possibly been avoided. It's unfortunate that just that one action could have avoided this entire experience.

 

The stewardess could have been more clear about why she was making him sit down. A bit of communication goes a long way. It sounds to me like she was overreacting to the situation.

However, it also sounds to me like she was in the right. Despite not explaining herself, she was perfectly within her rights to insist the man sit down. Her mistake was in not telling him that he could use the bathroom shortly. She did nothing to defuse the situation and only managed to confuse and intimidate someone.

 

Well I guess she didn't want to announce that the pilot was in a public area of the plane, especially to a "brown" person. Being of Indian descent myself, I know to be extra attentive to ANY instruction given to me during travel by flight staff.

This guy being a doctor, probably had his ego hurt by being told to sit down by a "lowly" flight attendant. He probably figured, who the hell is she to tell me where to use the facilities and stubbornly decided to attempt a second try.

On the other hand, the flight attendant was probably a bit of a bitch and had that "cop" mentality we all complain about. She most likely went overboard after the doc's second attempt.

Both parties are to blame.

 

Ok, do you guys seriously think it is a good idea for flight attendants to announce when the captain is outside of the cabin? Because it's not. Sorry, you can't walk up to the bathroom because the captain has his pants around his ankles and if you really wanted to, now would be the best time for you to take him out or take over control of the plane! Brilliant! Have at it!

Yea.. no. Granted, yelling at him wasn't the best method, but I understand why she omitted the truth.

 

While I think the flight attendant could have handled it better, had I been in the situation I'd have gone to the back of the plane where it's okay to wait for a bathroom. I know in these times of heightened fear and need for security it's better to take the safe road. Since I'm a brown man I comply with all the pain in the ass security measures no matter how annoying they are. I know that these people have a job to do so I make it easier on them and in turn they make it easier on me.

 

What exactly is an ethnic American?

 

Someone who was born.

 

my2cents:

Mitigation for the guy in question:
-I found out about the law regarding being in your seat and not being allowed to get up when the pilot is in the bathroom on a vacation, end of july. The flight attendant told everyone on the plane about that rule right at the beginning of the flight, along with the usual safety stuff. if they failed to do that in this man's flight, then he has reasonable cause to be irritated with the airline, as its clearly a common enough practice to inform the passengers of such regulations. if you don't tell people the rules, how are they supposed to obey them?

-being polite goes a long way. if the flight attendent had used different words/tone, this whole situation could have been avoided.

Still - the guy should have followed directions. post 9-11, you just have to obey everything the flight crew tells you without question immediately or you are risking serious consequences. everyone by now should know this, and trying to push past a flight attendant to get to the restroom is plain stupid. i don't agree with how stringent the rules have gotten, but i'm certainly aware of them and i follow them to the letter.

And as for the aftermath.... once he simply explained his situation and had a background check done on him authorities should have realized he wasn't a threat and sent him on his way. no criminal record, a practicing doctor, a medical condition which necessitates frequent bathroom trips, obviously he didn't have any weapon or anything on him or in his luggage... there's simply no reason a false positive like this deserves 24 hours of intense interrogation and incarceration. its overkill and a waste of time/money/gov resources, in addition to being godawful for the citizen in question.

as far as his case... fighting it etc... he did admit to trying to move past the flight attendant after she'd told him to sit down. as much as i feel sorry for the guy, that was a huge mistake and i don't think he's going to be able to get out of this clean.

[libertarian mode on]
and i leave you with 2 quotes, because i feel obligated:

When the government fears the people there is liberty; when the people fear the government there is tyranny. - Thomas Jefferson

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin
[/libertarian mode]