Maxalt
I think all of us that operate transport aircraft are involved in the learning curve of human nature. I am mostly involved with the holiday crowd who generally speaking can be a little more rowdy then the typical business crowd. All of us will at some time or other be involved with this type of situation, armed with ammunition from a previous experience, one thing that I've learned is to try to read between the lines of the ground staff, along with a consult with my cabin crew, main factor being that if I receive a heads up about a troublsome individual prior to pushback, I have ample and verifiable justification for my decision, not just out there on my own because I can.
In Capt. Crooks incident it may have been a prudent decision to find an alternate route to the aircraft, no crew just have to deal with walking the gauntlet of irate pax.
D L
