Man Says JetBlue Pilot Forced Him To Sit On Toilet

Source: WCBS-TV

A New York City man is suing JetBlue Airways Corp. for more than $2 million because he says a pilot made him give up his seat to a flight attendant and sit on the toilet for more than three hours on a flight from California.

Gokhan Mutlu, of Manhattan's Inwood section, says in court papers the pilot told him to "go 'hang out' in the bathroom" about 90 minutes into the San Diego to New York flight because the flight attendant complained that the "jump seat" she was assigned was uncomfortable, the lawsuit said.

Mutlu was traveling on a a "buddy pass," a standby travel voucher that JetBlue employees give to friends, from New York to San Diego on Feb. 16, and returned to New York on Feb. 23, the lawsuit said.

Initially, Mutlu was told a flight attendant had taken the last seat on the plane, but then he was advised she would sit in the employee "jump seat," meaning he could have the last seat, the lawsuit said.


Read more: http://wcbstv.com/local/jetblue.gokhan.mutlu.2.722250.html

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Just when you think you've heard it all on the horrible cattle car airline service!

Like you said, RL, just when you think....

then return to his regular seat when the attendant had to take care of the passengers?

Something tells me we've not heard the half of this story. . .

she wanted a seat for the entire flight?

but regardless the guy was getting a free ride and its just not worth a 2 million judgement unless he can prove there was some other motive like racism or something otherwise if I were the judge I would tell him tough luck and to suck it up.

not to have a seat with a belt?

I know that a cousin of mine who is an airline pilot can fly jump seat for free on flights that he's not working. Though it isn't a seat that a ticket can be sold for, so far as I know.

The guy on the buddy pass was NOT an employee. He was the BUDDY of an employee.

Personnel frequently reserve the extra jumpseat if they live in City A and are based out of City B. It's how they commute to and from work. It's not comfy, but it's a guaranteed seat if you reserve it, even if the plane is full.

Somewhere down this thread someone mentioned something about there being certain people who are "jump seat certified", and I suppose that that's where he fits in.

space A on competing carriers.

If you are a pilot or aircrew--i.e. you have a job that takes place on flying aircraft--you can sit in the jumpseat. Even if you aren't working.

...

Maybe she was on vacation, but she then could have used her higher priority pass to bump the buddy guy.

Either way, it doesn't make sense. If the seat was assigned to the guy on the buddy pass, that's where he should have been placed. If the FA signed up for the jump (going to or from work, commuting from another city, for example), that's where she should have stayed--you don't boot someone else out of their seat just because, oops, the plane is full. The pilot IS in charge and can do that kind of shit, but it was IDIOTIC of him to do it. I'd look for a relationship between the pilot and FA. That's my SWAG on the situation. Who knows, though?

No matter what the reasoning, no person is allowed to be unsecured and not in a seat during landing, take off or when the pilot turns on the sign during the flight. This is probably the strangest thing I have ever heard an airline getting sued for.

so flush repeatedly!' ;-)

to sit there.

Because i have esp, i will answer your next question before you ask it:

I do not know what it takes to be "jump seat qualified".

unfortunately, in today's megacorporate world, your reason is probably not too far from the truth.

though on reflection, I should have realized there'd be regulations for every seat on a plane.

;-)

I wonder if that makes me qualified yet.

crew seats against the bulkheads by the exits in the cabin, often facing the first row.

I heard a segment on talk radio about this today. It sounds like the pilot was a real jerk.

But is it worth 2 million? I don't know about that.

AND IF SO... DID THEY?

DID THEY LET PEOPLE PEE ON HIM IF THEY HAD TO GO?

DID MARK FOLEY COME AND VISIT HIM FOR A WHILE?

DID HE JET A BLUE STREAK?

DID HE SAY HE WOULDN'T TAKE IT SITTING DOWN?

DID HE GET A FREE DRINK?

DID THEY TRANSFER A TV TO THE BACK OF THE BATHROOM DOOR?

DID HE GET EXTRA BLUE-MILE POINTS?

DID THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT THANK HIM FOR BEING A STAND-UP GUY?

DID THEY DROP ONE OF THOSE "I CANT BELIEVE ITS NOT BUTTER" MASKS FOR HIM TO BREATH THROUGH?

DID THEY EXPLAIN THAT THE SEAT WAS WHAT THEY MEANT WHEN THEY SAID A "ROUND TRIP"?

AT LEAST IT WASN'T A MIDDLE SEAT!!!

And then remove itfrom your keyboard. You can do so with a screwdriver, which are available at most neighborhood stores ;)

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Anyways sounds like someone wasn't happy with the free service they got. "Waaagh the free burrito gave me gas." :eyes:

Gimme a break. I once paid 40 USD to ride 8 hours in the back of a chicken truck on washed out roads made of loess soil. Does that make me a badass or something? No. Is that story really worth relating? Probably not. Should this freeloader be awarded anything but a smack from his momma for being such a weinie? Probably not. Bleh.

off without going through the checklist? No big deal?

Sounds like someone was CORRECT in griping. That pilot should be fired. It points to employee quality--or lack thereof--at that airline, and I'm glad the guy complained.

:eyes:

http://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_safe/turbulence/

http://www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviation_industry/airline_operators/airline_safety/safo/all_safos/media/2008/SAFO08004.pdf

14 CFR part 135 section 135.117 and part 121, section 121.571 require seat belts be secured about all passengers of all aircraft (except certain lighter-than-air aircraft) during specified phases of flight, and that the pilot in command ensure that the passengers are knowledgeable of the use of the seatbelts, and notified when to use them. To support compliance with this regulation, seatbelts at all seat positions must be visible and accessible to passengers before each flight.

I have no idea if anybody ever uses them, however. I suppose I could ask...


or not. ;-)

standing on the outside, hanging onto the bars, with my face right up against those bars. Didn't smell too great, but it got me there.

On the other hand, the pig truck was not regulated like airlines are.

outhouse!

Like serving drinks n stuff? Add this company to the list that I will no longer patronage.

It would appear she wasn't, because if she was, she would only have been in that seat during takeoff, landing, and break. The guy who was shuffled off to the bathroom apparently was in his own seat during take-off.

The error in judgment in this instance is with the pilot, who was in command, and who violated FAA regs when he kicked a passenger (even though that passenger was on a buddy pass, he was still a passenger, and the person who got him the pass--an employee--had to pay an administrative fee to get that pass) out of a passenger seat to accomodate a flight attendant who was uncomfortable in the jumpseat. The pilot abused his authority, clearly. Doesn't inspire confidence, certainly. Wonder who else he's pulled this shit with?

:shrug:

all of them together as gender neutral "flight attendants".

Just like how people why take your order are no longer waiters/waitresses, but now servers. Any my mother never did stop saying garbageman! :wow:

:crazy:

so he was flying nonrev and had to sit on the toilet. Never heard anything like that before. Plenty of other places for him to sit, worst case against the bulkhead. Toilet seems like a popular place on every flight I have taken. Flown LOTS, work with people who have flown continuously 50 - 75 days a year for decades.

nypost, a "shitty" source.

I'd like to hear the pilot's side of this one.

Hard to tell without being in the room with the plaintiff and his mouthpiece.

What that pilot did was wrong. TOTALLY against FAA regs. Abusive, too. Was that guy the only nonrev on the a/c?

.
.
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did they do their business in the jump seat?

just askin' . . .

You gotta be jump seat qualified for that.

JBLU is a publicly owned company. The biggest holders are Lufthansa, institutions, and George Soros. I don't think we can blame the corporation's shareholders for the acts of one of its employees.

Can't Mr. Soros get them to carry Air America on their XM Radio?

:shrug:

It wasn't in the bathroom of course but it was just about as uncomfortable.

because his presense on the plane was a courtesy, he would be subordinate to paying customers and working employees

if 3 hours on the toilet were worth a lifetime in earnings, people would be in line across the country for that deal. heck, a bad burrito can get you there

he was not treated nicely, he should have been offered the bad jump seat, but he's a leach here, he paid nothing for the flight in the first place

once on, he has to be given a seat with a seatbelt. I don't know about the suit; but Jet Blue should catch regulatory hell for this one.

She was either deadheading or commuting. And the pax's status makes no difference. Once he is manifested, he's a passenger, and about the only way they'd screw him is if they ran out of meals.

The guy is not a "leach" either--those buddy passes aren't free--the airline employee pays an administrative fee for them, and it isn't cheap with some airlines--and it is an employee BENEFIT, as well.

It's like telling you that if a doctor botched an operation on your kid, that you shouldn't complain, because your company paid for your health insurance. See, it was "free" and your kid was a "leach."

The pilot violated FAA regs. And he was unprofessional.

toilet training for adults!

;-)

:hide:

Even though a buddy pass from an airline employee is not free (I've paid up to $200 for one), I've found I tired quickly of the airline's attitude that because I was flying on a buddy pass, they could treat me like I'd signed up for third-class steerage.

The very last time I used a buddy pass, I was seated in the last row of a 777. Everyone had boarded the plane, and they were about to shut the door. Suddenly I hear my name paged "Will passenger "My name" please come to the front." So, I walk from the very back of the plane, to the front, with every face from there to the front turned and looking back towards me as though I might be a terrorist. I get to the front, the flight attendant tells me they've overbooked the plane by one seat -- mine. I have to now walk the gauntlet all the way back to my seat in the back to get my suitcase, walk the gauntlet again to the front with my stuff -- everyone staring at me the whole way, and I was unceremoniously kicked off the plane to watch it take off without me.

I made my mind up in that moment -- no more buddy passes! I'd rather just shell out the dough for a paid seat.

called gokhan to go to the can.i'm sure they're applauding it all over the radio dial.