TightSlot
Very well put and I agree with you 100%. There is a difference between a group of lads in high spirits on the 2 hr flight home from the Med compared to a plane full of mainly angry and aggressive pax on an 8hr tranatlantic flight. It would be the cabin crew who would have taken all the flak and I'm sure, in this situation, the captain's action made it quite clear that he was not going to accept flak for him or any of his crew. That is called leadership and taking command responsiblity which, unfortunately, is all too lacking in our so-called 'modern' society.
Training Risky
To set a military scenario, if a 'grunt' who had just spent the last 15hrs in a slit trench because you were late at an RV came up to you and said 'about f....g time, mate', you'd probably have the guy charged - and if you didn't you would be shirking your command responsiblity, too.
For reasons best known to themselves, air passengers (a minority) demonstrate rudeness to ground and flight crew which I'm sure (or hope) they never display in other aspects of their lives.
Pour example les autres - often works a treat!