Another passenger.. Denied Boarding

We hope to be able to bring you true stories about the day to day happenings transporting 300+ people around the country on a daily basis.. this is more of a disturbing story but also funny depending on your sense of humor! When it comes to the anger we encounter (mostly Carrie, as I have a bullet-proof door between myself and the passengers..), some of it is justified... to a point. 

 Frustration is somewhat justified, anger to the point of being arrested is not. It's amazing the behavior we witness in an airport. Why is it that normal behaving people in everyday life can become crazed psychotics in an airport, and why do they think it's o.k to behave like this once in the confines of an airport? Normal social behavior applies in airports. 

I arrived at my gate this week for another flight out of Denver. It was a blizzard in Denver, we were supposedly a full airplane and the weather in Milwaukee was freezing fog... fun day ahead.

I was thinking of how to get 50 people through this weather so they would never realize what they had just flown through, so I was not in the mood for what we encountered at the gate. The gate agent was shaking when I went up to the gate and informed me the police were on their way to arrest a passenger. He asked me not to look but told me where the passenger was sitting. I , of course, looked..  It was an interesting sight. The passenger had baggy sweats on, open necked shirt to the waist and diamonds in both ears. This wouldn't be that unusual but the gentleman was about 70... hmmm..

Well, apparently the passenger had approached the gate and enquired as to where the Milwaukee flight was leaving from. Upon being told it was 20 feet away, he flew into a rage and threatened the gate agent with serious physical damage, this was interspersed with a tirade of cussing which was continued as he sat 50 feet from the gate!  Now I have seen rage like this at the airport many times, but it usually involves cancelled flights and weather...( or drunk people) but this time was unique as the flight was on time!! If he had behaved he could have got his flight and been home on time...  needless to say the outcome was a lot different. It went like this:

1. I denied him boarding.

2. He was arrested.

One thing we can rely on are the airport police, they are the enforcers of normal social behavior at the airport! Oh and they are kind of bored so really look forward to arresting anyone..