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Flight Attendant Accused of Attacking Own Crew CLT-FRA-CLT
A coworker who is not able to function properly and may be dangerous. Her behavior is erratic and increasingly bizarre. Obviously, she was not doing well mentally for some reason. I hope she gets whatever help she needs to address her personal issues.
In times past the captain would offload her and let them sort it out on the ground. Was there a miscommunication of some sort? Why couldn't the purser or chief cabin or whatever have her replaced before departure in CLT? Even harder to believe she was allowed to operate the return sector. :confused: An American Airlines flight attendant faces federal charges after she began attacking fellow crew members and U.S. marshals on both legs of an international flight from Charlotte. Joanne Snow is charged with interference with flight crew members and attendants, and assault on an officer or employee of the United States, according to court documents related to the case. Snow’s erratic behavior disrupted both legs of American flight 704 from Charlotte to Frankfurt, Germany, on Nov. 23 and 24, according to a federal affidavit. According to the affidavit by federal Air Marshal Joseph D. Fialka, who was assigned to the round trip, Snow slapped other flight attendants and shoved, punched or kicked at marshals. Fialka says that other flight attendants told him before takeoff from Charlotte that they had tried to have Snow removed from duty but that American did not replace her. American spokeswoman Katie Cody released this statement midday Monday: “We are aware of the incident, along with the subsequent criminal complaint, and take this matter very seriously. We are cooperating fully with federal law enforcement in their investigation, and are working directly with our employees. The safety and security of our customers and employees is always the top priority.” In his affidavit, Fialka said Snow confessed to him several times before takeoff that she was “crazy” or a “train wreck.” Once the doors closed, another attendant told Fialka that Snow had slapped her in the middle galley of the airport. Some 45 minutes later, Fialka says, Snow shoved him several times. “She was quite irrational at this time,” the marshal said in his affidavit. “She proceeded to the back of the plane, I learned that, while in the back of the plane, she grabbed the collar of the clothing (of another marshal) ... and spoke nonsensical things.” Later, Fialka said he tried to calm Snow. In response, she struck him twice with her open palm in his chest, he said. “The force of this action moved me back. I weigh considerably more than Snow.” The behavior continued and disrupted the rest of the flight, then resumed on the trip back to Charlotte with the same crew in place, the affidavit says. When the flight landed in Charlotte, Snow reportedly became more agitated and upset than she had at any point in the previous two days. She reportedly began yelling and screaming "the Air Marshals are gonna get me!" and attempted to bypass the passport control officer and get into the airport. She was detained by the air marshal and placed in handcuffs. When she got into the interview room, she reportedly laid completely on her side. When the air marshal reached down to lift her back up, he says she kicked him five or six times on his legs. |
In times past the captain would offload her and let them sort it out on the ground. Was there a miscommunication of some sort? Why couldn't the purser or chief cabin or whatever have her replaced before departure in CLT? Even harder to believe she was allowed to operate the return sector. I'm not suggesting that the Marshal catalysed the behaviour, merely that the Marshal was a competent witness to what might have been considered accepted behaviour by the rest of the crew. flight attendants had tried to have Snow removed from duty but that American did not replace her |
flight attendants had tried to have Snow removed from duty but that American did not replace her |
That's taking the sterotypical grumpy US biscuit chucker reputation to a whole new level!
The FAA is going to have a field day with this. |
Here is the criminal complaint referenced in the news reports:
http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/n..._complaint.pdf As the Affiant says: I have worked around SNOW several times prior to this. Her behavior on November 23 and 24, 2015, was exceptionally unusual. |
It's possible that it was only the presence of the Air Marshal that brought this matter to a head.
- G-CPTN Interesting to note that there were (at least) three marshals on board the flight concerned. Jack |
Just plain old ordinarily unusual (?)
Okay, so if the conduct described (in "allegedly" terms) qualifies as "exceptionally unusual" - where is the line between acceptably unusual with respect to lesser instances of the same conduct, and "exceptionally unusual"?
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Am VERY curious as to whether AA will be able to justify their refusal to replace her on the return flight.
That such behavior could occur one way stretches credibility. That they put her right back on another leg is just, well, insane. |
No replacement available? - the show must go on. . .
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Am VERY curious as to whether AA will be able to justify their refusal to replace her on the return flight. The Complaint was only filed after the second flight, and she was arrested only after she went berserk in the Customs area. Otherwise, the Air Marshalls weren't planning to take any action either. I hope she gets the help that she needs. It's sad that in this industry and in society in general, mental health is often not cared for properly, with taboos and fear of repercussions. |
on both legs of an international flight from Charlotte. BOTH ROUTES?! If this is true, she has some wonderful, forgiving peers which she doesn't deserve. Cue up the fumes people, the PTSD people, the radiation people, perhaps even the chemtrail people. Thanks, Obama. |
[QUOTE][
I hope she gets the help that she needs. It's sad that in this industry and in society in general, mental health is often not cared for properly, with taboos and fear of repercussions./QUOTE] Agreed. She was no threat, just had issues. Give her the help she needs. Everyone has issues, some more than others... help her, don't condemn her... |
Criminal Charges
Seems to me that she was suffering from bipolar disorder or schizophrenia with accompanying paranoia. Hardly the sort of thing that should be dealt with by charging her with federal offenses. I cannot say the same for management who let her on the flight if they were previously warned by crew members about her condition. While it is doubtful that she posed a danger to others, in the event of an emergency, her ability to carry out essential duties obviously would have been severely impaired. Another case of an airline putting costs ahead of safety?
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Well in MY time, when the captain (yes, only the captain...) decided that a crew-member needed to be offloaded for ANY reason, he/she got offloaded first, questions were asked later...
New generation of pansies, no wonder T&C are in freefall, if nobody is paid to make decisions any more... Bah, humbug! |
The original story said she was disruptive on the outbound leg. She was allegedly erratic at check in. Other crew members tried to have her removed. The F/A supervisor refused, she was allowed to remain on the flight. Weak Captain, weak crew members for putting up with this. The company should be hit with a big fine for this.
Charlotte is a very strange base. There are very senior people who should have retired years ago, they are barely able to function in the job. F/A training, especially recurrent, is a joke. Minimal testing, everyone passes. Pilot training at that center is slightly better, but the whole culture is to train to the absolute minimum standards. The hull losses US Airways suffered before and after the AWA merger are testament to that. Thankfully there is a new sheriff in town from Texas and I would expect to see more changes made in the former east bases and the CLT training center. Pilot managers have already been replaced in PHL and CLT is on the way. |
Removal
In the USA if the Captain says your off.. then your off.. He might have to argue with management but if he/she sticks to ur decision. your off..Airplanes have a minimum FA crew to remain legal.. I retired off the 777 and we normally carried 12 FA's on international flights. Min FA crew is 9. if necessary the Captain can remove 3 and depart legally. It has happened to me 2 times in my career. Once I threatened 3 with removal if they didn't settle down (they did and were happy they did) and once I removed the Purser for good as we were downline. We went home the next day minus Purser which created more work for the rest of the crew but was a necessary decision based on the Pursers actions. The Purser was allowed to Dead Head home and was met by her supervisor.. I never heard a thing after.
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Originally Posted by RadarContactLost
(Post 9196826)
I hope she gets the help that she needs. It's sad that in this industry and in society in general, mental health is often not cared for properly, with taboos and fear of repercussions./QUOTE]
Agreed. She was no threat, just had issues. Give her the help she needs. Everyone has issues, some more than others... help her, don't condemn her... Serves no point in chucking her into the Justice system where she will get a record, no job and no help. Let company provide support to her and ground her until she is properly assessed as fit to fly again...............if ever. Not sure whether she is a member of a Union but even if not they should offer some assistance as to what company could offer. This would ensure existing members knew what they would do for them. |
Many of you are taking the mental illness path. Not necessarily. If this behaviour was out of character it could be something else. I remember a colleague who began to behave strangely and out of character. Turned out he had a brain tumour!
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Turned out he had a brain tumour! |
Seems to me that she was suffering from bipolar disorder or schizophrenia with accompanying paranoia. Hardly the sort of thing that should be dealt with by charging her with federal offenses. Many of you are taking the mental illness path. Not necessarily. If this behaviour was out of character it could be something else. I remember a colleague who began to behave strangely and out of character. Turned out he had a brain tumour! In the modern politically correct union workplace it can be a tough call to define unusual behavior. If you say someone is acting oddly you are being 'judgmental' and you may be scheduled for 'sensitivity training'. The captain is now the 'team facilitator' in addition to being the 'inflight security coordinator'. In the very few cases I'm anecdotally aware of, the legal charges were used as leverage to persuade the individual to seek company provided professional help to deal with the underlying causes of the aberrant behavior. Whatever the cause of the bizarre behavior, I feel we must err on the side of caution when a coworker becomes combative, delusional or paranoid on an aircraft. Did the cabin crew or sky marshals ever tell the captain about the situation with the flight attendant? Or, perhaps with good intentions, did they keep the problem compartmentalized, hoping she would eventually calm down and go back to work? |
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