I’ll file this one under “What the hell”??
Let’s play a game. A few weeks ago a well known travel blogger/writer was kicked off of a United Airlines flight because he:
a) Got drunk and threatened both the flight attendants and the passengers
b) Threw a fit when he wasn’t upgraded to business class on just his “celebrity” status alone
c) Took a photo of no one and then politely apologized when the flight attendant confronted him.
Yep, you guessed it…the big crime worth taking someone off of a plane and disrupting the plans of both the “guilty” party and all the other passengers who were delayed was choice ‘C’.
I fly fairly regularly and often I’m on United Airlines planes and I never heard of a rule that said you are not allowed to take photographs on a plane. In fact, I’m a repeat offender. I’ve taken pictures out of plane windows:
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| I love being above the clouds |
I’ve taken pictures of my fortuitous empty rows on a long haul flight:
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| “Yay” for empty planes! |
I’ve even taken pictures of people’s questionable carry-ons:
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| Gotta have a dozen with you just in case… |
In none of those occasions have I received any warning or trouble from the flight crew or my fellow passengers. Usually I just use my relatively inconspicuous iPhone camera, but other times I’ve brought out the big guns, my Nikon D90, and never a complaint. Why?…because no one cares!
If I was invading someone’s personal space and capturing their likeness in a photo, they would for sure have had a right to say something. Otherwise I can’t see how an innocently taken photo of a business class seat should cause such a stir. I mean, they are now letting you bring small knives on board – shouldn’t we be focusing more on the knives than the cameras? And if a terrorist really wanted to get the idea of an airplane’s lay out so they can plan some dastardly deed, wouldn’t it be a lot easier to just look here??
So when I read Matthew Klint’s own account of how he was removed from a flight after he took a cell phone photo of the seat back in front of him, I was totally surprised to find out that such a rule exists and that you can get kicked off the plane for breaking it (even innocently breaking it). Apparently over 880 other people were also shocked by this rule because that’s how many comments he received on his blog post about the incident.
Even after reading his side of the story, I’m not 100% sure why he was forced off of the plane. Was it because the flight attendent thought she saw something that she really did not see? Or because in explaining the situation Matthew used the “T” word (terrorist)? Maybe the Flight Attendant was a disgruntled employee and she knew if she messed with a popular travel writer, she’d really stick it to the company through tons of negative press? Who knows…take a hop over to Matthew’s story then come back and let me know what you think.
Did you know there are no pictures allowed on United flights? What’s the policy on other airlines. Will that stop you from taking pictures when you’re on board? Doesn’t it make you wonder what other weird rules you’re breaking when you’re on a plane?
