Flying too high with some guy in the sky.
I find this story unbelievably shocking. Basically, two men on a JFK-bound flight were asked by a stewardess to cease demonstrating their affection for each other. But that’s not the shocking part. I mean, as offensive as those situations can be (I was once unjustly kicked out of a bar for some innocent same-sex PDA that was no more graphic than any of the opposite-sex stuff going on around us), it’s true that PDA is a tricky issue and different people feel different ways about it. And not having been there to witness it for myself, clearly I can’t judge whether these guys were simply holding each other’s hands, shoving their tongues down each other’s throats, or attempting to join the mile-high club right in their seats.
What I find dumbfounding is the following:
“Half an hour later, the purser returned, this time saying that some passengers had complained about Tsikhiseli and Varnier’s behavior earlier. The men asked more questions. Who had complained? (She couldn’t say.) Could they have the stewardess’s name, or employee number? (No.) Would the purser arrange for an American Airlines representative to meet them upon landing at J.F.K.? (Not possible.) Finally, the purser said that if they didn’t drop the matter the flight would be diverted.”
Um, what??? They’re terrorists now??? And, in fact, she was not kidding. The legitimacy of this threat was later backed up by the captain himself.
Seriously??? A civil (according to witnesses), though contentious, discussion between a stewardess and some passengers is grounds for diverting a flight???
I’m speechless. What could the possible motivation be for the airline to undertake such an expense and inconvenience for such a ridiculous reason? I mean, let me tell you, I’ve been on some seriously offensive flights: screaming children, enormous adjacent passengers spilling into my seat and taking up all of my personal space, yappy dogs being passed over my head and running around under my feet (I kid you not!)… Situations in which I, and many of my fellow passengers, couldn’t have been more uncomfortable. And yet, somehow those flights managed to stay on course and in the air. WTF?
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We’re turning into a fuckin’ bunch of sissies….
everything is now blamed on terrorism.
Kiss on people, show PDA….frankly A is what we all need most.
While I am not a fan of any PDA (hetero or homo), this is sooo ridiculous. Can anyone just be annoyed anymore? We are so freaking PC that now everyone feels that they have the right to be appeased. Whoever complained should have just sat there and stewed in their own anger for a while, like a normal person does.
What a bunch of tattle tale jerks we have become. And corporate America and the media sensationalize it and make it acceptable.
Great post, Chris.
I hate how people come up with all sorts of polite excuses for their homophobia.
Noah - I understand your comment about “corporate America,” but not about the media, at least in this case. If it weren’t for the New Yorker, we probably wouldn’t know what a “tattle tale jerk” the purser was, and how unreasonably American Airlines had handled the situation. I think that article made those points clearly, and was sympathetic to the two passengers, and wish there were more articles that highlighted corporate-sanctioned homophobia.