http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_312230651.html
Flight Attendant Fight Stalls Plane To Chicago
(CBS) A flight attendant fight Tuesday stalled a Chicago-bound plane
for hours.
The flight was supposed to leave Memphis just after 2 p.m., but as
Suzanne Le Mignot reports, a feud between employees forced the pilot
to take drastic action before heading to Chicago.
“It seemed like a lot of fuss over nothing,” said Chip Romine, talking
about the argument two Mesaba flight attendants had over his bag. “We
were trying to put my bag in the overhead, and it was too big. One
young lady came up and was trying to help me get it up, and the other
lady came up and grabbed it and said, ‘I’ll take care of that.’”
Then the two flight attendants started to quarrel some more.
“They just couldn’t get on the same page,” said passenger Steve Avent.
“It just seemed like such a non-issue they were arguing about. You
should have been here, you should have been there. I say tomato, you
say tomato. It didn’t seem to be that big of a deal, but cost us two
hours.”
Moments after the dispute, the pilot decided it was best for the
safety of the passengers to return to the gate and replace the crew.
“We were out on the runway and then they taxied back in again,” said
passenger Josef Mergili.
All passengers on the full aircraft were told to evacuate the plane
and re-board later.
“It wasn’t until several people went up the gate once they made us
de-plane, that we found out the reason for what happened,” said
passenger Lance Brown.
For their trouble, some passengers received $35 vouchers toward their
next Mesaba trip.
A spokesperson for Mesaba says the company is looking into the
incident and will determine what action will be taken against the two
flight attendants.
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Trouble on Board
MEMPHIS - Memphis International Airport is a busy place in the
afternoon. They call it the afternoon push. Planes came and went
Tuesday like normal, except for Northwest Flight 3668. It was stuck
because of two flight attendants who couldn't get along. "I think
maybe there was some issue we didn't know about. Maybe they got into
an argument yesterday, or this morning. I don't know," says passenger
Steve Avent.
The flight, operated by Mesaba Airlines, was supposed to take off at
2:20 PM from Memphis. It didn't leave until more than two hours later.
"To this point we still haven't received an apology," says passenger
Lance Brown. "It wasn't until several people went up to the gate we
found out the reason for what happened."
Passengers say the reason for what happened was a fight in first
class. They say the fight was between two flight attendants over where
to put a bag. "I think they were kind of confused about who was the
lead flight attendant," says Brown.
A spokesperson for Mesaba Airlines says the flight attendants got into
a dispute, and the pilot made the "correct and appropriate decision"
to bring the plane back to the gate to switch out the crew. The
spokesperson says the main interest of the airline is the safety of
passengers. The airline is still looking into the dispute.
Many airline passengers we spoke with Tuesday afternoon said they're
disappointed they'd have to worry about something like this in a time
of heightened security. "Out of all that, we got a coupon for 35
dollars," says Lance Brown. He hopes to use his coupon on a flight
that will come with a little less drama next time.
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