Barbara Starr and the unruly elderly passenger flying

[malaise]

from LAX to Reagan.

Ms Star was sitting next to this large elderly woman who became hysterical during the flight...bla bla bla. Barbara and other passengers were in shock watching them try to restrain her. Eventually after her pleading, the two men agreed to sit on either side of the woman and move Barbara.
Carol died last week -this woman who barely spoke English nearly faced the same treatment. Maybe this poor woman just recognized Barbara and that was enough to set her off -maybe she was just going home to bury a close relative? Maybe she did have mental issues.

Are passengers paying good money for this kind of treatment? Will people with mental issues soon be labeled 'terrorists'?

WTF is going on in airports and on aircraft these days?

Barbara was relating this story a few minutes ago. I'm still in shock.

Add.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[babylonsister]

2. Will people with mental issues soon be labeled 'terrorists'?

And worse; remember the man, a US citizen from FL IIRC, who was shot dead by an undercover agent? I think his flight originated in South America.

[malaise]

3. Yep

but there were some here defending that murder.

[cigsandcoffee]

4. Well, what are you supposed to do with people freaking out on airplanes?

Ignore them? Require airlines to have psychiatric or alcohol interventionists on every flight?

The options are pretty limited, IMO.

[terisan]

6. Trained staff---safe interventions. America used to have a prevailing can-do attitude.

[cigsandcoffee]

17. Describe this safe intervention, if you would, when a person is out of control.

Bearing in mind that the plane is 30,000 feet in the air with no security staff on board, and only stressed and overworked flight attendents to handle the problem. I'm sure that safe interventions happen all the time in less extreme cases, and that the attendents do have some training in this regard. We're usually only going to hear about the ones that exceed normalcy or their ability to handle with soothing words.

I frankly don't see this as some kind of an indictment on America or our "can-do" attitude. That's a bizarre train of thought.

[terisan]

18. Your lack of imagination or faith in progress astounds me. We are spending billions

in creating and continuing an unsafe, failing intervention in Iraq that has killed and displaced millions of people. I prefer to spend money on leadership, research and interventions that are sensible and safe, and allow as many people as possible to travel and lead a free life---as envisioned by our founders.

Start out with the premise that we want as many people as possible to exercise their right to travel while providing safe means of travel to all, including them. Take a couple of hundred million of those billions (or maybe some of the waste from the Boondoggle Department of Homeland Security). Draw together people who actually know and interact with unwell, and disabled individuals (professional, family members, and others); transportation execs and employees;law enforcement, self-advocates for disabled; and let them set the goals and parameters and come up with a workable process.


Too many people perhaps are gripped by fear and lacking in faith in our form of government, or maybe just aroused to fear by a manipulative leadership and their own anxieties to believe that we are capable of figuring out a safe means of transportation that respects the rights of all.

(Incidentally, stressed and overworked flight attendants shouldn't be working under those conditions because they themselves represent a risk. Are you doing anything to mitigate that risk or are you ignoring it and/or making excuses for it)?

[cigsandcoffee]

23. I'm sorry, but are you kidding me?

That's utterly ludicrous.

You want to create a government program to care for the small handful of mental health problems that occur once or twice a month on the tens of thousands of daily flights? Talk about an astounding waste of taxpayer money (and I don't care if it's being wasted elsewhere - that's hardly the point). Hell, we're lucky if police forces are trained to deal with the mentally ill, and now you want to move that job on to flight attendents with government financing behind it?

Get real.

[terisan]

24. You want to keep wasting time on money on what doesn't work and go cut rate, go ahead.

Is a business and citizen study group a big government program? A big government program is the massive farm welfare bill (the agricultue giveaway) where the corporate farmers pick my pocket to support their millionaire lifestyles.

You are the one raising the issue of stressed and overworked flight attendents at 30000 feet and wanting to keep citizens who might breakdown from flying but you don't want to solve the problem in the proven method of getting stakeholders together to solve a problem?

Ask the stakeholders volunteer their time or make cost savings one of the objectives of the study.

I think too many Americans respond to problems , not as something to solve, but as emotional outlets, something to complain about ---and to address only by trying to roll back the rights of citizens.

[malaise]

25. Do you think people flying with mental health or other health issues

only started flying since 9/11?

[flordehinojos]

5. what will happen if people who want to make a statement opposing certain"homeland" security measures

were to stop, i mean, really STOP, flying on airplanes? Bush and his goons have let loose lots of roaches, goons and thugs and these have taken over the airlines .... there is so much crap going on these days.

[malaise]

7. A one day boycott would shut down the country

business would suffer, the airlines would suffer and all parties would be forced to head for a table to sort out this fucking mess. Enough is fucking enough!

[flordehinojos]

12. i vote for boycott of the airlines.

[Bluebear]

15. Right, tens of thousands of us don't rely on the airlines for a living.

[MindPilot]

8. I fully support the beating, tasing, and restraining of authoritarians.

"9-11 changed everything" is bullshit.

[Romulox]

9. What about the "rights" of the OTHER PASSENGERS on the plane?

Getting sick of hearing that fat passengers have a "right" to spill over into my seat, parents have a "right" to allow their children to run amok, and now (apparently) people have a "right" to throw a fit at 37,000 feet.

What about the rights of the other 150 people on these flights?

[Bluebear]

13. wrong spot

[MindPilot]

10. It seems that this problem of people freaking out on planes and in airports

is happening a lot more frequently.

Perhaps if the airlines and the government didn't put quite so much effort into making sure that everyone is as uncomfortable, humiliated, frustrated and scared as they can possibly be before boarding the aircraft, there wouldn't be so many frightened angry passengers.

[malaise]

11. Couldn't say it better

Thank you.

[Gormy Cuss]

26. It seems to be a reasonable possibility, doesn't it?

Yet that perspective is not voiced in most media discussions of "air rage" events. There's also the long time idling in crowded terminals because the airlines and TSA recommend such early arrivals.

[Starlight]

27. ITA. Airports are very stress inducing IMO.

[scarletwoman]

28. Bingo! The stress level for airline passengers is already through the roof just trying to get on

a damn airplane.

Add in a few random factors like low blood suger (no meals on lots of flights), or pre-existing emotional difficulties, or any number of other stressors on TOP of the heightened stress of the "Terror! Terror! Terror!" gestalt of the whole system; and you have a sure-fire recipe for a certain percentage of freak-out.

sw

[Bluebear]

14. 'Maybe this poor woman just recognized Barbara and that was enough to set her off'

:)

[malaise]

16. LOL

:hi:

[malaise]

19. What happened to dicksteele's great response?

Anyone!!

[Swamp Rat]

20. Is there anybody out there...

Hello... hello... hello... is there anybody IN there?... just nod if you can hear me... is there anyone at home? :D

[Richard Steele]

21. It disappeared with the rest of that "I heart unthinking fascist brutality" subthread.

Not the first time that's happened. And until the Mods get a clue
and TOMBSTONE his trolling butt, it won't be the last.

A small price to pay, IMHO.

[malaise]

22. I hear yah bro

but your response was great.