Passengers on board a cross-country flight were outraged when a U.S. Airways flight attendant refused to allow a highly-decorated Army Ranger to hang up his medal-laden dress jacket to keep it from getting wrinkled during the four-hour trip.
Although the soldier was too humble to say or do anything about it, the passengers, flying Thursday from Portland, Oregon to Charlotte, N.C. took to social media to express their anger. They also contacted Charlotte’s WSOC Channel 9 News, which reported:
Late Friday afternoon, the airline issued an apology for what happened on board U.S. Airways Flight 1930 from Portland, Oregon, to Charlotte on Thursday.
The statement reads: “We apologize for the situation and are reviewing the incident internally. We have a long and proud history of serving our military members and hold the men and women who serve our country in the highest regard.”
[…]
An airline spokesperson said Marle was the fourth person to make that request and the closet didn’t have space but passengers said that is not how the flight attendant responded.
Passengers who witnessed the soldier’s request disagreed.
“Her response wasn’t that there’s not space in the coat closet or ‘I’ve hung too many jackets up.’ It was just simply, ‘Our airline policy says I’m not going to do it, so I’m not going to do it,’” Brian Kirby, a first-class passenger on Flight 1930, told the station. “I was really appalled at not only the way she looked at him but the way she spoke to him in an angry type of attitude.”
Although Marle took the situation in stride, his fellow passengers did not.
“He was more than willing to take his seat,” Kirby said. “He was not going to make an issue of it. It was us in first class that made an issue out of it.”
According to Channel 9 News:
Marle’s parents told Eyewitness News their son’s uniform is very important to him. He’s been wearing it on job interviews across the country pursuing his dream to be a doctor.
From the moment the flight touched down in Charlotte, Twitter lit up like the Fourth of July. Some users called for a boycott of the airline; others called for the attendant to be fired. Here are a few examples via Twitchy:
Do not fly US Air, I have just witnessed a US soldier heavily decorated disgraced. Will be sharing with other media outlets ASAP.
— Kirbs72 (@Bkirby72) October 9, 2014
.@USAirways @Bkirby72 US Airways treats an Army ranger that way? It’ll be a cold day in hell before I fly commUniSt Airways again! #TCOT
— RKBA (@RKBA1911) October 10, 2014
.@USAirways @Bkirby72 This veteran will never fly USAir ever again. They are on my official boycott list FOREVER! #BOYCOTTUSAirways
— Mathew S Harrison (@MathewSHarrison) October 10, 2014
@USAirways the airline that I have flown almost 100,000 miles on this year disgraced a heavily decorated soldier right in front of me. Shame
— Kirbs72 (@Bkirby72) October 9, 2014
Watch the news report of the incident via Charlotte’s Channel 9 News:
