Distraught pensioner correctly 'offloaded' by Virgin

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yo yo ma

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"The upshot was that the grandmother uttered "cough" as the supervisor walked away"

Well done to the VA staff - the lady needs to take responsibility for her behaviour. She won't do that again...

Canberra Times said:
Returning from the stress of her mother's funeral and frustrated by being directed to the wrong departure gate, the pressure told and a Canberra woman was kicked off a Virgin Australia flight.
The Melba grandmother said the boarding pass issued by Virgin staff at Sydney Airport had directed her about as far away as possible from the actual departure point.

Distraught pensioner 'offloaded' by Virgin
 
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I agree - VA did the right thing. Although she was probably exhausted and grieving for her mother, it still does not excuse that kind of behaviour. I note that we're mainly getting her version of the events - all Virgin said was that she was being disruptive. I suspect things were a bit more lively than the way she has portrayed events.
 
:D I love the way they use "grandmother". Around our way out here at Ipswich, that would make her around 28-30 years old :D:oops:
 
Yep. Only part of this story is being told... As is usually the case.
 
:D I love the way they use "grandmother". Around our way out here at Ipswich, that would make her around 28-30 years old :D:oops:

Ahhhh living dangerously!!

*waits for the AFF queensland residents*
 
It would be nice to have the full story.

Abuse should not be tolerated but if all that was said was "cough" and she was offloaded that is just a petty excuse to offload.
 
IMHO there is a lot more to the story than has been reported.

Mind you there is no excuse for bad behaviour and any abuse of staff should not and will not be tolerated in my business.
 
It would be nice to have the full story.

Abuse should not be tolerated but if all that was said was "cough" and she was offloaded that is just a petty excuse to offload.

This could have been avoided if Virgin handled the situation better - it doesn't take much to apologize for the unfortunate mistake with the gate.

I accept that this may not be the full story, however, if the passenger was truly being disruptive then it is unlikely she would not have been allowed to board the plane
 
Ok I'm going to take a huge leap of faith here and read between the lines that a disruptive passenger upset at a gate change was offloaded from a VA flight :rolleyes:
No comment :p
 
Traveling with $10 and no credit cards or other cash it seems

Always a great idea

Oh and if she spent a night in Sydney with her daughter's credit card and only $10 how did she pay for the accommodation ?

Fraudulent use of the credit card that didn't belong to her ?
 
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There are at least two sides to any story. Airline staff are trained to deal with difficult people and have to deal with them every day. For them to have to offload someone is very much a last resort. So I suspect there is more to than story than in the report.
 
If she offloaded someone for muttering a word as she walked away, that she can't even be sure was directed at her (eg it was a cough to walk to that other gate) then she is one! Well she is!

I amazed that people have
the gall to make accusations
about the honesty of the women. Or question travelling with only $10. Believe it or not there are people in Australia who don't have much money.
 
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Traveling with just $10 is beyond stupid and just shows a total lack of common sense! Should always have at least $50 or more in case of an unforeseen circumstance! Along with other means to access a bank account etc

The article clearly states "So the disabled pensioner, with only $10 and a hastily borrowed credit card from her daughter, had to spend a night in Sydney."

So she used that credit card to pay for the hotel ?
So she used $10 to pay for the hotel ?
So she actually had another means or more than $10 to pay for the hotel

Something doesn't sound right here....

Oh and It's also at this stage that "disabled" is also mentioned for the first time...
 
Wow. I can't believe how ignorant people can be about how some people live in society. Perhaps they should go help out at a homeless shelter or in disability support or something. Listen to the stories of people and then learn something.

So if you physically only have $10 do you not go to your mother's funeral because you don't have a minimum of $50? :rolleyes:

Unbelievable!


Sent from the Throne
 
.... Or question travelling with only $10. Believe it or not there are people in Australia who don't have much money.
I have lost count of the number of times I have not had any cash in my wallet commuting SYD-BNE and vv. I do have 3 credit cards in my wallet but only one allows cash withdrawals and this was maxed out for a long time.

These days I try and keep $5 just in case I get the 400 bus in Sydney.

Anyway ensures that I don't just splurge on rubbish in the airport terminals.
 
Yes.. it is SOOO likely that the comment "cough" was NOT directed at the woman she just had a disagreement with...

Why, I'm sure we all spout random epithets for no reason at all too, coincidentally within the hearing of someoene we've just argued with........ (where's the Enormous Rolleye smiley?)

(Note she doesn't actually deny it was directed at the supervisor? Good use of weasel words there.)
 
Perhaps this is more about todays social norms, where a lot of people find it acceptable (even agreeable) to profusely swear in mixed company in any circumstance. Hang, it even happens here on AFF (I'm occasionally guilty of it too :oops:). As an example, how many box-office hit movies these days come along that don't rely on swearing, sex and unrealistic CGI? Maybe it was the supervisor who was "out of touch" and rude? Maybe the supervisor had a harder day than than pax? Maybe the pax was way more unforgiving than the paper implied? Maybe the pax expected a free flight in return for a gate change? Maybe we should go and watch grass grow?
 
Perhaps this is more about todays social norms, where a lot of people find it acceptable (even agreeable) to profusely swear in mixed company in any circumstance. Hang, it even happens here on AFF (I'm occasionally guilty of it too :oops:). As an example, how many box-office hit movies these days come along that don't rely on swearing, sex and unrealistic CGI? Maybe it was the supervisor who was "out of touch" and rude? Maybe the supervisor had a harder day than than pax? Maybe the pax was way more unforgiving than the paper implied? Maybe the pax expected a free flight in return for a gate change? Maybe we should go and watch grass grow?

What is CGI?

Maybe she was a cough, but really, would you take the chance of being off loaded. Reminds me a bit of the Adam sander movie " anger management". Just picturing the air Marshall there " in the current times you cannot get angry on an aeroplane"
Small things amuse small minds huh:D

Save you searching

Air marshal taze - YouTube
 
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Look, I agree that if she had a civilised and non-aggressive argument with the supervisor and was offloaded purely for calling her a cough, then the supervisor over-reacted. However, it seems unlikely that one could be offloaded for a single comment. Like I said before, I suspect a lot more went down than what we have been told. I guess we will never know the exact circumstances.

About the travelling with $10 issue - I don't think it's relevant for the actual event (of being offloaded for allegedly being aggresive/threatening staff) - because if it does, then we could all go around acting like cough, then saying 'but I only have $2...you can't kick me off'.
 
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