It’s as if all the frustration from airline travelers across the world has collected into one crazy woman who’s just eaten a candy bar. We can’t believe we missed this last Thursday.
“A woman missed her flight at the boarding gate HKIA” [YouTube]
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Um, wow. I would be interested in knowing what she is saying, but too lazy to find a translation.
@mbouchard: Someone on YouTube posted this translation:
+ Watch video
@windycity: Holy crap, dude. Take a sedative.
@windycity: Oh my. That is funny and sad.
What she says @ 1:12: look
@mbouchard: She’s saying “#9 was supposed to be beef with broccoli!”
@kaptainkk: Wow. That was humorously racist.
@kaptainkk: Your initials are becoming of your commentary. (Or is it the other way around?)
@Gilbert: For the record my initials are kk (no middle name) and I’m Indian-American.
@kaptainkk: As Dave Chapelle proved, anybody can be a white supremacist.
@rockasocky: Indians tend to be more white supremacist than whites….remember they are still enforcing that whole caste system thing….
@noasalira: “Indians tend to be more white supremacist than whites….remember they are still enforcing that whole caste system thing…. “
I mean…not to make broad generalizations about certain ethnicities or anything….
@kaptainkk:
Or are you a dyslexic American-Indian?
@kaptainkk: Oh, our mistake. Since you’re not white, you’re allowed to make off-color remarks.
@kaptainkk: I don’t know, champ, looks pretty ominous to me…
@kaptainkk: You sir, win one Internet.
@mbouchard: The comments on Youtube said it roughly translated to Why won’t you let me on the plane, it’s still there!
Apparently she was from the mainland. I wonder if she came in on a late connection or was just late herself? I know if it was a connection delay I would be miffed as well (although not THAT upset, they have rules and getting flustered is not going to make them want to help you).
@AustinTXProgrammer: Can’t be from the mainland flying in on a connection- Cantonese is only spoken in Hong Kong and the province immediately surrounding it. In that case it would make more sense to take the through train from the mainland and then fly out. Then again, sense isn’t exactly abundant, not there, apparently…
I have the feeling that if this were in the U.S., she would have been tasered, pistol-whipped, hand-cuffed, tasered again for good measure, dragged off, and taken to the “ter’ist room” by those wonderful TSA folks.
@supercereal: You forgot cavity searched.
@supercereal: Yeah, that did happen (in Phoenix) and they ended up killing the poor woman. Her name was “Carol Gotbaum” if you want to look it up.
@ecwis: yeah. No one “Killed” that nut. She tried to get her cuffs off and wound up chocking herself.
@ecwis: Get your facts straight about this “poor woman.” She was heavily drugged up and nuttier than a Snickers bar. She even threw a PDA at this one dude and was flying TO an alcohol treatment center. She killed herself (albeit accidentally).
@ecwis: Wow, distort reality much?
I’m certainly no fan of the TSA. But they in now way killed her. She was alone, handcuffed to a bench when she died from a drug+alcohol overdose made worse by pre-existing health conditions after she ATTACKED people. This other woman at least seemed to not pose a threat to herself or others.
@ecwis:
I dislike the TSA as much as anybody but Carol Gotbaum was irate, threw her PDA at an Airline employee and was subsequently arrested. While in custody she accidentally strangled herself while trying to get out of her restraints. In the autopsy it was found that she had a BAC of .24 and was on about half a dozen prescription drugs, some of which may not have been prescribed to her. But yeah, they killed her.
@ecwis, et al.: The Phoenix police arrested Gotbaum, not the TSA. At least blame the right agency if you’re going to play the game.
@wgrune: She was taking three prescription drugs. Cymbalta (SNRI) and Celexa (SSRI), and Chlorpheniramine (Antihistamine). And I don’t know why we have any reason to believe that they weren’t prescribed for her.
And this case doesn’t really have anything to do with the TSA. They don’t have much authority so I all of this action was done by the local police.
@The_IT_Crone: Wow, distort reality much?
According to the autopsy report, she died from “asphyxia by hanging” but apparently you know more than the doctor performing her autopsy…
@t-r0y: Of course a lot of this was her fault but she was not able to take care of herself; I find it ridiculous for the police to believe that locking her to a bench with a 20-inch shackle with NO supervision is the right thing to do. They are standing by their SOP and fail to make any changes to it. Their negligence led to her death. If they simply put her in sight of an officer, or used a smaller shackle, she would not have died.
@ecwis:
Try again. From the NY Times, who had a copy of the Autopsy:
The autopsy found ethyl alcohol and ibuprofen in Ms. Gotbaum’s body, along with two antidepressants, Citalopram and Duloxetine; Dextromethorphan, an antitussive used to relieve a nonproductive cough; and two antihistamines, Diphenhydramine and Chlorpheniramine.
@wgrune: Yeah Citalopram, Duloxetine, and Chlorpheniramine all require a prescription.
The other drugs are all over the counter. Diphenhydramine is Benedryl, Dextromethorphan is Robitussin, and Ibuprofen is Advil/Motrin. Ethyl alcohol is from alcoholic drinks.
So I stand by my statement that she was only taking three prescription drugs.
@ecwis: Wow! Blame it all on the TSA/police/government/Bush — don’t let personal accountability stand in the way.
The death of Carol Gotbaum was a tragedy, but she bears some of the responsibility herself.
@ecwis: Wow, that was the fastest loss of credibility I’ve ever seen.
@Closed captioning provided by Homerjay: It’s ironic how he says “look it up” but didn’t do so himself.
Irony and ignorance, today’s daily double.
@ecwis: Um, I’m pretty sure the cops didn’t kill that woman. She had been drinking heavily, had drugs in her system, and a history of poor health. She was arrested for throwing things at the staff and shouting, but was handcuffed for no more than 10 min.
I agree that the cops should have realized this woman is inebriated and could be a danger to herself or others and instead of handcuffing her, maybe getting paramedics or something. But they didn’t out and out kill her. That’s just inflammatory.
@supercereal:
Sadly, you’re so right. We here in the ‘land of the free’ and the ‘home of the brave’ don’t take kindly to that shit going on in OUR airports!
@TheSpatulaOfLove: Um ’cause this woman is batshit crazy! She’s disrupting practically the whole airport and won’t even listen to reason. She’s flailing on the floor like a little child – cultural differences be damned, that’s throwing a temper tantrum. I say sedate her if she’s going to act that crazy.
@supercereal: I can tell you from personal experience that the security force at HKIA aren’t carrying tasers. They are, however, carrying fully automatic submachine guns, which can be quite shocking at first.
@deep.thought: Reminds me of when I visited Greece (which I love!!!) back in early 2001 and police had assault rifles in the subway/underground. Cultural differences are everywhere. I wasn’t sure if I should feel safer that they were there or worried cause they would need them.
i’ve had the pleasure of flying out of hkia many, many times. stuff like this is more common than you think.
she sounds like a cat. that really pissed cat. youtube “burger & fries” if you have no idea what I’m talking about.
@KillTheAcademy: hahahaha. wow. that cat is pissed. so is this lady. what a spaz.
@KillTheAcademy:
Somebody really needs to do a mashup with the yappy dog from The Soup
@Coyote: No, no…that dog is perfectly calm and rational, unlike woman in video.
@KillTheAcademy: My cat actually came in from the patio looking worried. I had to shut it off so she would calm down.
It’s like when my little sister threw a tantrum. Have to let them tire themselves out
This all happened after she held up the flight because she was late enough where they had time to remove her bags before she showed up. No doubt her entire flight was glad she missed it, if not to be held up by her then by the performance they missed midflight.
She’s upset that Frank Costanza stopped short.
@JulesWinnfield:
Hahahahahahaha <3
“Dear Consumerist,
I was trying to return from my trip to Hong Kong last week, and I narrowly missed my flight. Despite my calm attempts to reason with the airline officials, they would not let me on the plane….”
@rpm773: “…furthermore, the officials started making a scene, embarrassing my husband and I in front of the entire airport. How do I proceed from here? Can you give me the e-mail addresses of the board members for that particular airline so that I may write an EECB? Thank you.”
I wasn’t that bad when the assholes made us late for our connecting flight in Detroit as we were headed to my grandmother’s funeral. I mean, I think I shouted “F***,” but I wasn’t that bad.
I got a lot worse when the woman who was “helping” us rolled her eyes and acted pissed that she’d have to do work for us though. I never screamed, but I was very firm when I told her “you will get us on another flight, and you will do so now. The flight will not be tomorrow, because that will be too late for the funeral. It will be today, you will get us in with our luggage, and you will have a solution for us in five minutes.”
What a nightmare that trip was…
@Shadowfire: People who tell workers what they WILL do are the kinda people they don’t like dealing with. It’s condescending.
@Shadowfire: Did you give her a frowny face too?
I feel bad for her husband, not only for the embarrassing scene at the airport but having to live with that.
Sounds like she didn’t know how airports work. She might have been from the countryside or just someone who hasn’t flown before and was upset that all the money they spent on plane tickets would disappear because they missed their flight.
You think someone would hand out little awards to the people who have the quick thinking to get this on camera…
I’ve been through that airport. While they’re not unpleasant (despite the communists now controlling HK), it is inexplicably slow getting through security and customs, even when the gates are not overfilled with passengers.
That is one airport where you definitely want to arrive early for your flight (no comment on the woman). The train to and from the airport, on the other hand, is a dream; all airports should have one that clean and fast.
@P_Smith: Or you can take the train up to Shanghai and leave the country from there instead; they’re a tad more accomodating when it comes to matters like this (and I believe a transit visa for the mainland can be provided for most countries in such circumstances).
@jamar0303: Right, get a China visa and take a 3 hour train. Great idea.
@groverexploder: Better than collapsing in a fit of tears at the check-in desk.
I had my roommate translate, she keeps on repeating ” I wish I had a SERTA SLEEPER, I wish I had a SERTA SLEEPER”
@redfork: LOL. My ears up and ran after about 10 seconds- screaming in Cantonese tends to do that to you.
They took the video down
Is this Tatiana Del Toro’s (from American Idol) mother?
I wonder where she was going. If it was a funeral or something for work I could understand if she was pissed or started crying, but throwing yourself on the floor is a bit much!
Even I wasn’t as frustrated when I (barely) missed the 30-minute baggage cutoff at Fort Wayne on Northwest last year when I was just about to head out to SNA, despite one atrocious member of their ground staff. And it was the only flight of the day Northwest had from FWA-MSP-SNA, so we were SOL for the day, and the ramp guy tried to make it even worse.
Now, I could see him trying to make things bad at O’Hare, Atlanta, or even Indianapolis. But Fort Wayne? There’s only 8 gates there, and (with the exception of Allegiant Air) almost all the flights there are on turboprops or regional jets such as EMBRAER 145s (aka “the lawn-dart”).
Still, I just kept my cool, used FWA’s Wi-Fi (which is free) from my MacBook and called Northwest on my cell phone, and thought “How can I get out soon?” We got out the next day (but had to pay a bunch in change fees and such). At least now that Delta bought Northwest, we can rebook a flight via Atlanta or (soon) Detroit. And now, we’re aware that we should come before the cutoff despite the airport’s size.
Sounded just like the Wicked Witch after Dorothy threw the bucket of water on her…..
@ElizabethD: Funny, I was thinking Judge Doom being steamrolled in Who Framed Roger Rabbit
At first I thought Christian Bale was at it again
I have the feeling she is the type of person who does this sort of thing on a regular basis.
I missed my son’s third birthday because Thai Air had to accommodate a suspected child killer and four federal marshals on a sold out flight. I didn’t make a scene anything remotely like that. I teared up a little (being stuck in a foreign country is a pretty big fear of mine) and you would have thought from the dirty looks I got that I was being wholly unreasonable.
I feel sorry for this lady’s husband. I wonder if he has to watch her have tantrums at the grocery or the mall…
@JamieSueAustin: I remember that guy. Turned out he never was involved with the Ramsey killing, he just wanted attention or something. Sorry you missed your flight and the b-day for such a loser…
ha! funniest comment of the post *lol* That Tatiana girl is nuttier than a fruitcake – I can’t wait to see what kind of hysterics she’ll pull when the show goes live (maybe that’s why the producers kept her around!) Seriously, she makes this Tiwainise woman look sane by comparison….
If that was in Canada, she would be TASED repeatedly until dead.
She almost sounds like Lucy Ricardo right after she gets busted for one of her hair-brained schemes that goes horrible wrong.
Almost.
In retrospect, probably not the 15 minutes of internet fame she was looking for.
Close to the end of the sub-titled video (assuming, of course, the guy who translated knew what he was doing) there are two interesting points:
- Angelina Cray-Zee says something like “I’ve been late and it wasn’t a problem”
- She berates her husband for not getting on without her!
Hmmmmm. Makes one wonder what’s going on, no? She then dispatches him to arrange something with QA. Poor Quantas!
Of course, if this had been in Canada we’d have just tasered her a few times and been done with it.
This is a slightly misleading title, actually she just finished a glass of Chinese milk and is suffering the ill effects.
she’s really not saying anything that translates well in english.
mostly “oh noes!” and “how could this happens?”, “why couldn’t they wait a few minutes?”
the flopping around and wailing is a cultural trait and is fairly typical of southern chinese women of that generation.
not as funny as the “uncle bus” video.
@AngusWalsall: In that case, remind me to piss off a Cantonese lady from a safe distance. Because it’s apparently quite the spectacle, but not one I want to get near.
Well, I know I wouldn’t be *happy* about missing the plane – especially if it meant my stuff was going on without me. But I don’t think I’d be THIS unreasonable holy crap.
Wow, when I missed my flight out of Detroit Metro I didn’t pull this kind of thing.
I was more worried about dying in America’s least safe city.
Jebus!
My guess is that the other people on her flight are pretty psyched that she missed it.
I gotta say, I’ve felt that way when it comes to airlines, when it comes to insurance companies, and when it comes to everyday, normal life. I’ve never actually pitched a fit like that, though. I guess what I’m trying to say is I know how she feels. *Sigh.*
One time, I was late due to a connecting flight, and they had closed the door to the jet bridge from the airport, but not the door to the plane. I ran panting up to the door, but reacted with a mere “dammit” when I saw the door closed.
I asked the attendant if it was definitely too late. She said she had to call the pilot – and voila – I was allowed on. I’d imagine if I were acting like this, it would have gone the other way.
Me and the Crazy Airport Lady are done professionally. I mean it.
It’s like they said at the inauguration. We’re all hoping that one day Yellow will be Mellow.
Poor China jumped out of the frying pan of communism into the fire of super capitalism. They need either to progress to the relaxed socialism of Europe or, second best, to regress to the good ole days of the Opium Raj.
To be honest, ALL of mankind should have those two options as they’re top choices, but seriously, Yellow needs Mellow MORE.
mnuez
This is just BEGGING for a “banned from xbox live” subtitle job…
Some hot-shot! Here’s his ancient Chinese secret: OMG! I FORGET IT!!!
wow, I *speak* cantonese and I had no idea what the heck she was shouting until i see the subbed version.
She’s acting just like my toddler son.