Christine learned an interesting bit of in-flight trivia on her recent United flight: those little call buttons are for emergencies only. What’s more, the flight attendants can psychically sense when it’s an emergency and when you’re just foolin’ with them, and they’ll ignore you if they suspect you’re just going to ask for water. And no, needing to take sinus medicine to prevent clusters of needle-explosions going off in your skull during descent is not an emergency, so go back to your seat.
Christine doesn’t usually fly United, and only got booked with them when she had to reschedule a flight at the last minute:
I slept for the bulk of the flight and when I woke up, I realized I needed to take sinus decongestion pills to avoid sinus pain during the descent. Because I am a frequent air traveller, I knew that I only had 30 minutes left in the flight and if I didn’t take the pills, the pain would be unbearable. I would have gone to ask for a cup of water myself, except I was in a middle seat and I didn’t want to disturb the passenger seated next to me. So, I pushed the flight attendant call button above my head. This is something I have done on other planes many times in the past and I didn’t think it would be a problem.After 5 minutes, I looked around to see if the attendants were busy with other customers. The aisles were clear and the attendants were in the back of the plane. They seemed to be talking to each other and I assumed they were busy, but I eventually realized they weren’t preparing or doing anything other than chatting. One of the attendants looked up and saw me, so I waved–I assumed that maybe the button system wasn’t working and that they didn’t know. I thought that, if she saw me waving and if she saw the orange light on, she would come over. The attendant turned back to the other attendant and started talking again. I was at a loss for what to do.
Eventually, the passenger in the seat next to me woke up and asked me if I needed to get up. I said I had been trying to avoid bothering him by calling for the attendant, but after 10 minutes, it didn’t seem like they were coming. He graciously got up and I went to the back to the attendants, who were chatting.
I said to the attendants, “Sorry to bother you. I don’t know if you saw the call button or anything, but I just wanted a cup of water. I didn’t want to disturb the fellow next to me because I have an aisle seat.”
The attendant who was standing–I believe she was of Asian descent, but I didn’t get her name–said curtly, “That button is just for emergencies, not water.” The other attendant didn’t say anything.
I said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I have used that button before for water and, besides, the little figure on the button is carrying a cup. I assumed I could use that button to request water.”
She repeated that, again, the button was for emergencies only. She gave me the water, I took my sinus medicine, gave her the empty cup, and asked how I was to turn off the button. She said that it would turn off if I pressed it again.
I was really surprised because I have been flying my whole life and I have pressed those buttons before and I’ve never been told that they were for emergencies only. I’m not used to receiving such brusque service, either. After I sat down, I realized that if this had truly been an emergency, neither of the attendants would have come to help me. There was no way of discerning between an emergency and a request for water without having first come to me. I know I’m a bit slow, otherwise I would have brought this up with them when I was still standing and talking to them but then again, they didn’t seem to be in the mood for providing customer service. I decided to e-mail my feedback instead.
It is arguable whether or not needing water to take sinus pills prior to descent qualifies as an emergency, although I would like to point out that by the time I received the water, we were close to descending and the sinus pain would have been incredibly debilitating if I had to wait a few minutes longer for the pills to start working.
I think a more appropriate response would have been to come to my seat when the button was pushed. If it had not been an emergency, the attendant might have said to me, “Those buttons are for emergency only, not for water. If you want water, please come up and request it in the future.” I think this would have been appropriate and reasonable response.
Also, if these buttons are, in fact, for emergencies and not water requests, perhaps the buttons should be labeled, “For Emergencies Only.” Also, what constitutes an emergency for using the buttons?
For those who tend to suspect the worst in our OPs (you don’t have a real disease! you shouldn’t have lost your job stupid! only communists have sinus problems!), let’s review:
- she slept for most of the flight, so unless she is a horrible sleepwalker or has night terrors, she couldn’t have been that much of a high-maintenance passenger;
- she waited 10 minutes before getting up;
- she got the water herself;
- the little figure on the call button is holding a cup; and
- the button isn’t labeled “for emergencies only”.
Our first reaction was to think Christine should have insisted that the flight attendants do their job properly. The trouble with that is, airlines have us all by the balls right now and know that if we act even the least bit exasperated they can accuse us of endangering the flight. We’ve seen “Flight Plan,” and we know where that leads. So we’re not sure what she should have done. (But sending the above email to corporate is a good start.)
Clearly, Christine, that is an emergency cup on the button, which you should only request in the event your plane is crashing. An emergency cup may just save your life one day! We’re not sure how, though, so this looks like a good place to end this post.
(Photo: Zinnia.)
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@LiC: Um…STEWARDESS? How long ago were you born? They have computers in your nursing home, sweetie?
@rolla: Did you read the comments? Multiple people addressed this. It was likely so corporate could ID the offending flight attendant and reprimand her. I think she obviously would’ve said “blond” if the FA had been blond.
This article should have been titled “2 Stewardesses, One Cup”
I mean, talk about obvious set-ups!
@Jackasimov: Last year I flew by myself from Frankfurt to NYC on Singapore Air, and the flight attendant stopped and chatted with me for 10 minutes about my DS (she also had one and we compared games). It made me feel like a 10-year-old traveling by himself for the first time. But it was also really nice. But she wasn’t an American, judging by her accent, so it hasn’t changed my opinion of domestic airlines.
@SJActress: that would work well… if only one was allwoed to bring liquid on a plane.
@Jackasimov: I’m just sick of people making irrelevant comments about how the OP is stupid or negligent in some way to their superior way of doing whatever, and so could have AVOIDED THE WHOLE SITUATION, GOD, instead of addressing the obvious way the company fucked up.
@pigeonpenelope: You can bring liquids on a plane, they just have to be purchased inside security.
Once again, United proves they are the WORST airline in the air.
Someone has to blame the customer so let it be me…
First, how DARE she think that she should deserve water, something that the earth is covered with, to be served to her! I mean come on, after all that poor flight attendant doesn’t get paid as much as she used to. She shouldn’t have to work as hard! Who cares that she spent 3x more on the flight than she should have? Customer service is for pussies.
And she’s probably a druggie if she’s taking sinus pills. She’s lucky she doesn’t get arrested! I mean everyone else in the country flies just fine! No one EVER needs motion sickness pills or anything.
Come on, Consumerist. Post something important like stories about kittens or something!
(Note: for those who didn’t get the sarcasm, here’s the disclaimer: I WAS BEING FACETIOUS!)
I fly southwest, jetblue, or not at all.
Addressing all the comments about the attitude of commenters on this site: while there are a lot of bad comments, I do think that many times the commenters are the only ones to counter an incorrect or unreasonable judgment on the part the bloggers. There have been many times when the post has been unduly mean or flat-out incorrect, and the commenters bring balance to the discussion. In so far as this blog is a public service (which I think it is), it has a responsibility to be fair and balanced (not in the Fox News fashion), and the commenters are key in that effort.
To the people who aren’t familiar with these sorts of sensitivities: they can cause hearing reduction and loss for several days if one’s inability to equalize pressure is bad enough, in addition to the pain.
The time needed prior to descent for the medicine to be effective varies by medicine, medicine type (how it’s taken), and the individual. Some people metabolize what they ingest quicker than others–what needs 20 minutes for one person requires 45 for another.
Don’t be so quick to judge. I can speak from experience when I say that this type of pain is beyond horrific. (If you stick a knife about four inches into your ear, then you’ll understand, though of course, I don’t advocate doing that).
Poor thing. United and Delta are the most painfully awful airlines I have had to encounter. Hate hate hate.
Was it really necessary to point out that the flight attendant was Asian?
When I was a kid and my family was flying back from a trip to Ireland, I wasn’t able to get water for my motion sickness medicine. So I had to attempt it without water. Result; fail. It was the worst taste I have ever experienced in my life when the pill dissolved in my mouth because I couldn’t swallow it.
@demonradio: “I love how you have to gently point out to people to not be assholes. I miss how Consumerist used to be, before it was so easy to sign up and leave comments. Sigh.”
Me too.
Consumerist Gods – can we PLEASE have a Craigslist-style spam button where if enough people judge a poster to be a useless, limp penis, he’s (yup, almost always guys: shoot me) banned? Much more useful than embedded videos.
Maybe have someone review and give a reprieve if warranted, but otherwise, assume the wisdom of (Consumerist) crowds.
New members have probationary status that nukes them MUCH easier: make them realize commenting is a privilege.
Following the example used in the article, it can be a icon of a cup. Of flaming death!
I remember back when I used to fly a lot, a few years before 9/11, flight attendants always seemed to be so courteous and helpful. Good in-flight service was one of those things you expected as airlines competed for business.
Post 9/11, now that flight attendants have all this authority and no accountability, they realize they can treat people like shit now and have free reign to do whatever they please. My how things have changed.
@SJActress: I’m not allowed to bring a bottle. I bring a sack, taped to my leg. And it’s not water, it’s booze.
@Dashrashi: You can always bring an empty bottle and fill it at a water fountain or resturant in the terminal.
@Dashrashi: well, unless she can ID the flight with a flight number or the name of the flight attendant, then how does corporate know who the offending flight attendant was? For all we know, there could have been more than one Asian flight attendant…ever think of that??
Folks, we are embarking into the golden age of flying…
I also like to think of the “Asian” mention as an ironic comment. It’s always the Asian airlines (ANA, JAL, Asiana, etc) that are known for… not being assholes to their passengers in flight.
We still have no plausible justification for the liquid ban (don’t throw that ‘liquid explosive’ bullshit into the mix), so much for taking water or your other preferred non-alcoholic beverages on the plane.
And I am so happy that there are the elite commenters chiming in here and there to let the rest of us know how lucky we are to be able to peruse their incredible insightful opinions.
Has the Consumerist been bought by Faux News?
@grouse:
Why are you even here? Why do you bother reading this blog?
@Jackasimov:
Would you get up at a restaurant and find the waitress to ask for a drink? How is this different?
How come everyone else can comment but my insightful observations never get posted???
@timmus: Amen. We need more details.
@SJActress: Ha! I bought a bottle of water after getting through the security gauntlet at SFO – that thing cost me $4.59! I WILL get me some free water from those airlines from now on…
@PotKettleBlack: @ornj: @ohgoodness:
Agreed times a hundred.
I will always say this whenever Consumerist posts a story on United.
They effed me over years ago, and I delight in paying more to flight a competitor (usually Southwest or Jet Blue, and they aren’t usually more, though if they are, it makes me happy) because I know that the more I pay a competitor, the more it takes out of United’s pockets.
I will never fly United ever again as long as I live. Though I’m pretty lucky in that most of my flights are to Asia and I can avoid all US carriers (ahhh, ANA).
@kimsama: er, “fly a competitor”
@friendlynerd: I might. And you seriously don’t know the difference between a flight attendant and a waitress? Therein lies the problem I suspect.
@Dashrashi: And I’m sick of people treating blogs as kindergarten playgrounds.
Morally superior much?
@kimsama: Last time I went to Asia, we flew Northwest to get there, then, internally we flew Vietnam Air, and Singapore Airlines. What a difference. Maybe we are too enlightened to have good service or something.
On the whole water dilemma, I have the HACK: Bring an empty [www.nalgene-outdoor.com] bottle. It is not liquid, it can be taken through security. At the first water fountain beyond security, fill er up. You now have as much as 1L of water, for free. Past security and good to take on the plane.
OT Rant: $5 bottles of water and the new necessity of <3oz bottles for all toiletries that I would carry on is a victory for the TERRORISTS. Never mind a federal budget that is overlarge with defense spending. I don’t think the TERRORISTS are getting the victories they want, but they are winning. It depresses the hell out of me.
@Trai_Dep: How about an ignore function. I bet someone could cobble together a greasemonkey script for this.
@UpsetPanda:
Maybe she was just trying to inform United which employee it was. She said she didn’t think to take her name down, so the next best option is to describe her. She didn’t use any racist comments, just a very short description of her. If I didn’t know my Mail Mans name but I know what he looks like, then i would probably tell the post office it is an African American who works on this street at this time. Everyone always assumes the worst. jeez.
@CapitalC:
Taping your sack to your leg sounds very painful and not at all worth saving $5 for a mini-bottle of Tanqueray.
@avsfan123: Thank you for enforcing the language policy! So important. Of course being an Avs fan shows emotional issues with which to begin focusing.
@Jackasimov:
What problem? Part of a flight attendant’s job is to be a waitress, like it or not.
The OP should be glad she wasnt arrested for disrupting the flight. these days all it takes is disagreeing with a flight attendant to get yourself thrown in jail.
She just was lucky enough to get frickin’ lazy attendants. You know, the kind that probably hate their job and think it’s a social club.
She should’ve put them in their place… But with a smile. So they can’t say she’s a terrorist.
I love that she pointed out to the flight attendant that the call button has a picture of a cup on it! That’s the type of comment I generally only think of after I’ve returned to my seat and have been fuming mad for 10 minutes.
@Dashrashi: Amen.
United Airlines really really SUCKS! I try to avoid this airline at all costs as they are really miserable! About a month ago my connecting flight was canceled and so the airline tried to put on a UNITED flight, I said “NO THANKS” and had to stay an extra 2 days just so I could avoid flying on UNITED AIRLINES! Of course, I did happen to be stranded in Paris… but still!
@grouse:
UMMMM then why are you on here? Go Grouch somewhere else.
I would have simply, in a friendly voice and very calmly but firmly instructed her to either give me her first and last name and employee number and manager’s name, or have the captain come back and address the issue. No fuss, no threat to the plane, just making sure the flying bitch knows that like she is actually there to do her job and earn her paycheck – duh. And then clip her little wings later with corporate.
Yes, she should be fired for being hostile to passengers and lying to them about service and security related matters when it’s not her option to do so.
Hi! I’m the original poster! I don’t usually comment on blogs–too messy–but I guess I should clarify:
-I sent the flight information, date, and time to Consumerist.com, but it was not published. Maybe they wanted to protect the identities of the people concerned? That seems reasonable, especially if they want to give United a chance to deal with this instead of allowing for a situation where the readers might confront the attendants. The only information I didn’t provide was the seat number (13E) and the flight attendants’ names, which brings me to my next point.
-I, too, find it racist when the race of someone is brought up and it is not relevant. I’ve often thought of indicating a person’s whiteness in passing in my own conversations in order to draw attention to this practice, but I realize that many people wouldn’t get it. I mentioned her race only as an identifying factor for United Airlines, but I should have thought to delete this when I forwarded my e-mail to Consumerist.com, sorry. The other flight attendant was white, no more than 3 feet away while watching this entire conversation, and completely silent the whole time.
-I’m Asian (ABC). The passenger next to me was white. The flight attendant next to the Asian flight attendant was white. There were no other people of Asian descent working on the plane as far as I could tell. The figure on the “emergency” call button was painted in white and I couldn’t discern its gender. Clearly it’s a call button for white people only! Kidding!
-There’s always a little part of me that knows I sometimes get treated differently because of the stereotypes surrounding Asian women (always already foreign, submissive, can’t speak English, etc.). This was probably not the case here, and it probably isn’t relevant, but I want to convey that I understand white privilege and racism because of my daily experiences as a person of color and also because it is something I study and try to understand on an academic level.
-I have travelled often enough to know that the sinus medication needs 15 minutes to kick in and it wears off after 4 hours (for me). This I established through painful experimentation and accident. Since the flight was just over 4 hours, I could not take the medication at the outset of the flight before I fell asleep because it would wear off.
-Once I left my dinosaur SIGG bottle at security and I haven’t finished mourning. And by “I haven’t finished mourning,” I mean “I figured I could get some water on the plane like the idiot that I am.”
-I am not looking forward to my return flight on this airline but I can’t afford to cancel and fly another airline. The funniest part is that I bought a $1,150 international ticket on United 3 days before this incident because of the departure times. 17 hours of this will be on United. Again, I can’t afford to cancel and fly another airline. My partner was about to buy his ticket also, but we don’t want to give United any more money–granted, it’s his employer’s money–and we are even considering flying the long flights separately.
-In the letter to United, I asked the following questions:
What are those buttons for? I would like to be able to use them correctly in the future. Are they for emergencies only on United Airlines, or is this standard among all US airlines? What constitutes an emergency? Will the flight attendants in question be notified if they were wrong in their approach to this? If this had, in fact, been an emergency, they or United Airlines might be held liable or subject to lawsuits in the future. Can I cancel my flight to Eastern Europe without incurring penalties? Or, can you, United Airlines, say or do anything to reassure me and my husband that this is not typical of United Airlines, and that we should go ahead and book my husband’s ticket to Eastern Europe?
I got a canned response that said that my information would be shared with colleagues and they would follow up with employees so they would know how I felt. I’m not sure I can publish the response here because it says, “This message is intended only for the use of the Addressee and may contain information that is PRIVATE and CONFIDENTIAL. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited.” Is this to protect them from having their responses posted on sites like this? In any case, the response did not address any of the questions I asked above. I e-mailed them back and pointed this out, but I haven’t heard back yet.
Also, I know I should have asked for her name. I usually do, but I forgot because I had just woken up and I was baffled by the entire thing. You know, once, I asked a Delta passenger for his name and he told me, but something felt wrong so I asked to see the name on his badge. He said he didn’t have to show me his badge and I insisted that he did. Eventually he did, and the name he had initially given me was not the name on his badge!
@sparklingpink: Was it really necessary to make the same point that umpteen other comments made? Try reading before commenting…
@avsfan123: Smarmy comment. They have books in your junior high, sonny?