I just got back from an incredible weekend with friends in Istanbul. Ironically with the ~$400 fares we all took advantage of, I was not too surprised to learn that roughly 30-40% of the people on board the Valentine’s Day United flight from Newark to Istanbul were points and miles enthusiasts as well.
Up in the air, it felt like a DO as fellow passengers made friends with one another and talked miles and points for the entire duration of the flight. What a perfect way to spend Valentine’s Day; love was in the air – literally.
However, before the doors closed, there was a bit of a disagreement between some of the flight attendants and fellow passengers in regards to snapping iPhone photos of their seats on board. When I overheard a flight attendant tell the fellow MilePointer seated in front of me that taking pictures onboard “her” aircraft was “illegal”, I was shocked. Up until then, I hadn’t heard of such a thing.
In fact, over the course of the years, I alone have personally taken dozens upon dozens of photos on airplanes. Heck – I’ve even had some flight attendants volunteer and take a photo for me!
After my new frequent flyer friend seated directly in front of me got a stern “talking to” from the FA, I thought the worse was over. Nope, $h!t was about to hit the fan… We then found ourselves experiencing an unexplained delay at the gate, and within 10 minutes or so, rumors started circulating all over the cabin. “Someone in BusinessFirst just got kicked off the plane”, said a friend seated in BF to me.
When I heard that statement, I sent out a general tweet before the main cabin door closed asking if it was against policy for one to take photos on board an airplane. I got a varying degree of responses – some saying that it was ridiculous of the FA to say it’s illegal, and some stating that yes, there was such a “no-photography” rule in place, but it was rarely seriously enforced. I planned on investigating it some more and blogging about it once I landed and was settled in Istanbul.
I ended up holding off on blogging about the situation because I wanted to make sure I heard the story correctly. Was this person really kicked off? Did they get a few warnings? Was there any verbal resistance involved? There were too many unanswered questions, and I didn’t want to bring any false information to the table.
Well, it looks like the rumors were confirmed. Yes, a BusinessFirst passenger did get kicked off the plane, and yes, he did take a picture. Surprisingly, it just so happens to be a fellow travel writer who decided to come forward with his story today. Matt’s version of what happened to him can be found on his blog, Live and Let’s Fly.
What do you think will come about this situation? Has anything like this happened to you before?
While I can’t say I exactly saw what happened (I was flying in E+), but as far as I remember, there were no loud or hostile comments coming from the front cabin, so I can’t imagine it being a threatening scenario to begin with…
I’d love to hear your thoughts [and United’s] about this.
Let’s connect:Â 
Please write into United and let them know your perspective of the experience.
http://upgrd.com/matthew/thrown-off-a-united-airlines-flight-for-taking-pictures.html
On a recent LAN flight upfront, the FA (flight att) took my picture!!
How can it be illegal? I take pics of C and F class all the time to remember the quality of that flight. Airline seats mean more than hotel rooms and as an enthusiast I only do this during flight of my own seat and not involving other passengers or crew.
Maybe I’m wrong ? They advertise pic shots of seats all the time everywhere. Have things changed that much in this world?
Just read the full story over at Live and Let Fly – all I can say is WOW. Completely insane.
Guess we have to sketch pictures in charcoal now?
I was just on a United flight, and I’m pretty sure they have their photography policy explained in the seat back magazine where they list their overpriced crappy beers. I didn’t read it carefully, but I’m pretty sure it explicitly says that photography is okay but don’t take pictures of other passengers without permission.
Taking pictures of yourself or friends is OK, taking pictures of equipment is not OK. Bloggers take pictures of lavatories, entertainment systems, seat and such and that is not OK. Seems like you encountered a strict FA. On top of that the writer mentioned the magic “terrorist” word. There you go!
Just read this on Live and Let Fly, and it is absolutely insane. Had the flight attendant not been allegedly lying about his actions, there would be some merit (although very little) to removing him for disobeying crew instructions. And as Jon said, it says you may take personal pictures as long as they don’t include other passengers or crew.
Long story short, FA had a bad day (or just hates her job) and was power hungry, I’m sure nothing more will come of this than a formal report and a slap on the wrist for the FA, but so goes life with unions around.
I dont know what the rules are but I never liked it when bloggers took pictures of strangers without permission and posted them on the internet.
@Mike: Jeez you’re in a public place you can have your photo taken. Welcome to the 21st century.
@Michael: On a plane is not a public place fwiw
I personally think that Matt, needs to seek legal action for his $225. Maybe for him it may not be a lot of money but it’s the principle of the matter.
This is absolutely absurd, and United gets away with things like this on a daily basis.
I would LOVE to write a blog about how a Captain who flew me to Vegas came off intoxicated on the loud speaker and how none of the FAs on the flight were accommodating when the captain made rather freaky remarks about our aircraft.
I feel that United seems to be untouchable, and enough is ENOUGH!
FWIW, the blogger in question took a picture of his IFE and seatback in BusinessFirst.
I was on the flight, and while I didn’t see the blogger get removed from the airplane, I did witness the interaction between the FA and the passenger in 17D who took a picture of the BF cabin. The passenger took a pic, and the FA screamed from the front of the plane “Who took that picture?!?!?! Who took it?” When 17D admitted to taking the picture, she verbally reprimanded him, yelling that it was against FAA regulations (which it is not, to my knowledge). The passenger gave a look of disbelief and said, “really?” and then put his camera away and really said nothing else.
The lack of respect for the passenger and overall rudeness displayed by the FA in this instance was pretty alarming, IMO. It ovbviously got even worse when the blogger was removed from the plane.
Typical of a the U.S. based carriers to just get carried away….especially over nothing! You kick out a passenger off the plane, not because they are a terrorist or a risk to the safety of others…but because he/she wanted to appreciate the product of the airline …good grief!! I would totally ream United for this action of the flight attendant. They could learn a thing or two from EK, SQ, and TG, and oh..the list goes on….. Heck, even KAM AIR a dinky Afghan airline lets you take pictures!!
FA and Pilot should have to give a formal apology to MATT
This policy should be listed on the ticket, as nothing on the ticket states read our airline policy thats in our magazine when you board.
Makes me mad just reading this. On the other hand, I would never ever bring the word “terrorist” into a conversation with any flight crew member. And once the Captain is involved, it’s probably game over. Just extricate yourself from the situation and take it up with United after the flight.
It’s the new United.
That was me in 17C.
I didn’t even get to take the picture before she lost it. My metering light went off. She demanded to see 3-4 pictures that I had taken previously not believing I had taken it.
She then proceeded to tell me it was against FAA regulations. I asked her since when? And she then laid down a whopper on me saying that they don’t make up FAA regulations. Ironic. After sitting down and putting my camera away the Purser came by to have another talk with me.
I am typing this stuck at EWR after a CX on my connection to DCA after getting off the IST-EWR longhaul in BusinessFirst. The crew had no issue with me taking pictures of the cabin or my seat. The crew attitude was night and day different from the EWR-IST crew.
Frankly, I have no issue withnot taking pictures if that’s what the crew wants. Dons hide behind and make up “FAA regulations” to get people to comply with something you don’t want done. I think that is the main point apart from the craptastic attitude that was displayed.
This is … beyond words.
I’ve had issues with exCO United staff before out of IAH over photography – to the point where I now avoid IAH for the fears of intolerant crew like this.
It’s another joy of travel chipped away.
As I posted on Matt’s website, this is utterly absurd. What a crock. It makes my blood boil!
@Kris Ziel: The last time I checked, a plane was a public place!
In United’s inflight magazine there’s a little bit of fine print that states (and I’m paraphrasing here) that passenger aren’t allowed to take photos on their planes.
That was in extreme bad taste from the UA FA. Some of the most pretentious behavior I have seen from FAs in general were on UA operated flights.
As a side note, some of you have a poor acumen for distinguishing between public and private property.
Fire the FA…”her plane”?….please!
this is very funny!
why didn’t Darious and Emily of millionmilesecrets get kicked off of plane?
They post countless pictures
As a former station manager with 19 daily flights (small, but not tiny,) for an undisclosed airline, and at another time in a job associated with United, it was interesting to read Matt’s story. The flight attendant asked him to stop photographing which he did after just one shot.
Trouble began when he tried to explain himself as they were trying to dispatch the aircraft, and he mentioned the word, “terrorist.” Both drew attention to himself.
From everything I have read, the Flight Attendant lied that Matt ignored her directive and continued to take pictures, but not simply putting away your camera and keeping a lower profile until the flight was in the air (and taking photos when that flight attendant was around,)
As a mileage runner myself, and taking more than my share of photos on airlines around the world, its pathetic of the airline to complain about taking photos onboard in this iPhone age. Drawing attention to yourself and mentioning post-9/11 codewords just before departure is not bright.
In all honesty, 1K’s, despite being good customers, can also be the most pushy. An airline needs to balance the needs of a passenger, with the safety concerns, and operational (on time) efficiencies of an airline. It is not always a balance that is handled well.
Semi-practical solution — wait to take snapshots until after the plane takes off — what can they do then? My own personal favorite seatback pictures are of Linux rebooting after trying to select an in-flight movie. Now I wonder if there is some lawyer-encouraged fine print regarding even posting these snaps post hoc. Likely because of private vs. public spaces, overzealous airline legal beagles (er, pitbulls) can likely sue anyone for inducing copyright infringement on just about any photo … even it is not part of the “contract of carriage” boilerplate.
Glad to see this sort of nutty Airline behavior is getting the negative publicity it deserves.
This is simply unbelievable, that on this day and age, a dedicated and well behaved passenger is ordered to leave a plane under false pretense. Although I can understand the time constraint that FA have to get a flight to leave on time, manufacturing truths that get passengers thrown out of planes is definitely not the way to handle this kind of situations. The unfortunate use of the ‘t’ triggered such a drastic and unnecessary response. Just another sad day for troubling inflight experiences onboard a US carrier.
Angelina, I appreciate your post and the comments it has elicited. No resolution yet from United, but they have been in touch and I expect one today.
Please tell us what we can do? Giving our opinions here is good but not nearly enough. Who can we call/write etc. to support you and complain about this?
He got kicked off because he was a PITA. You don’t argue the FAs when they are trying to get prepared for takeoff.
As someone who pilots a small plane, flying is a stressful job, especially when there are 200 souls on board that you are responsible for. The Capitan did the right thing, he doesn’t know if the passenger will keep bothering the FA during flight.
The kid blogger needs to learn which battle to fight, And this is not one of them
LU, give me a break! My step-mom is a FA for UAL (over 15 years of service). Showed her this story and she agrees, if true, the FA in this case was completely out of line – and so was the pilot. These are trained professional – stress should not be an issue when it comes to customer service. I hope Matthew gets a fat apology from UAL – although, I doubt he will get one because that airline seems like a bunch of idiots run amuck.
@JG who’s side of story?
stupid rule!
Oddly enough, I’ve only ever been told it’s not allowed to take pics onboard the plane on Star Alliance flights (once on ANA between Seoul & Tokyo, and again on Avianca between Bogota and Medellin).
stupid rule!
My whole blog model is ruined without being able to take pictures on-board. I see United’s policy as a loosely enforced warning to protect the identity of it’s other passengers. I’ve become more mindful of not getting people in the shot when I’m taking video and blurring them out in blog posts if it’s unavoidable. In any case, if the flight attendant tells me to stop something, I stop it and mumble angry, incoherent words under my breath.
On our recent UNITED First class flight from Narita to Chicago the Flight attendants took our pictures for us also! THEY offered to take the picture!
Hmm someone should make a Video like United breaks guitars ;)
I have read all the stories and it sounds like the Flight Attendant had the attitude and abused her power. To make matters worse, the Captain blindly backed her up.
Now, how will United respond? If they sweep this under, it sends a strong message to fliers that Flight Attendants can do as they wish without fear of reprisal.
I hope this story goes viral like that “United breaks guitars” thing a while ago. UA deserves all the bad publicity for allowing something like this to happen. It’s an outrage that the FA got a bug up her ass about taking a harmless photo on a plane. Unfortunately the use of the t-word probably ruined the situation, but the FA’s initial behaviour was out of line. And simply saying that you’re NOT a terrorist should not trigger a negative response since that is not like making a false threat.
As having been on both sides of the ticket counter, as both a 1K and line station CSR supervisor, I’ve seen my fair share of rude, unprofessional UA FA’s, and making up FAA regulations on the fly, so to speak, is in some FAs’ “flight kits.” Wondering though, as this was a 757 flight to EWR, if it might have been a pre-merger CO crew? I would be very surprised to hear formerly CO crew members to behavior as described.
Nonetheless, vile behavior. Another reason when there’s a choice, never fly a US carrier overseas.
many of my classmates went to work for airlines when they left miitary – the ones who did were not the bright one who didnt want to be flying bus drivers.