By Victoria Rosenblum, The Flip Side Communications
Several media outlets reported Virgin America kicked Jets quarterback Geno Smith off a flight at Los Angeles International Airport.
According to Daily News in New York, it’s believed cell phone or headphone use before the plane took off led to the incident. Details are unclear.
The airline issued an apology to Geno Smith in a statement released Thursday.
“After a full review of the incident, we believe it was the result of a misunderstanding that regrettably escalated unnecessarily. We’ve apologized to Mr. Smith for his experience, which could have been better — and we’d welcome him back onboard any time. As an airline that prides itself on our guest service, we take incidents such as this one very seriously.”
While the apology was a smart move, I question the airline’s word choice. How is this a misunderstanding? Wouldn’t kicking someone off a plane involve something much more than just a misunderstanding?
Companies carefully choose their words when addressing controversial incidents. Describing a conflict as a “misunderstanding” isn’t uncommon. But I don’t buy it. This must have gone beyond a misunderstanding.
For me, a misunderstanding would be a flight attendant asking someone to take off his headphones and he didn’t understand the request. At what point does it get so heated over cellphone or headphone misuse that an airline removes a passenger from a plane?
I want more transparency. The airline should explain how things got so out of hand that it booted Smith off the plane. The alternative simply raises more questions for me.
What actually went down with the quarterback? Or was a flight attendant a New England Patriots fan?
Smith said, “I really appreciate that Virgin America took this seriously, looked into this matter and followed up with me. I look forward to flying their airline again soon.” Does he actually look forward to it?
The quarterback might again take to the sky via Virgin America. But what about when I take to the air? How do airlines handle similar “misunderstandings” when the passenger isn’t an NFL quarterback?