Earlier in the week I wrote about how an Emirates flight attendant was allegedly fired for using her cell phone during a flight, and crew members were seeking revenge. Well, as it turns out, there’s a bit more to the story.

A recap of what allegedly happened

This incident surfaced in a YouTube video that has since been deleted. The video was uploaded by a YouTuber who covers topics of interest to flight attendants, with a particular focus on Gulf carriers. According to the video:

  • An Emirates frequent flyer saw a flight attendant texting on her phone during taxi, and wrote in to Emirates to complain; he essentially was trying to blackmail the airline, and said that if they didn’t compensate him he’d publish the video online
  • The Emirates flight attendant in question was fired for this incident
  • The YouTuber exposed the name of the passenger and also shared the contact information for the company he works for, and she requested that her followers write to this guy’s employer to complain, presumably with the intent of getting him in trouble as well.

As I noted in my original blog post about the topic:

  • The passenger sounded like a complete jerk, if he was reporting a flight attendant simply to get compensation
  • At the same time we were hearing only one side of the story, and I suspected the flight attendant wouldn’t have been fired if this were her first warning
  • I didn’t at all like this YouTuber’s attitude, claiming “he flies for free as his company pays for everything,” and that she essentially wanted to cause the same harm to him that he caused to the other flight attendant

What really happened to that Emirates flight attendant?

The same YouTuber has now uploaded a quasi apology video. I’m not even going to link to it, because frankly she doesn’t deserve the traffic, in my opinion. In the video she apologizes profusely, but she also says “people threw me under the bus.”

Anyway, I’ve (independently) been able to get my hands on the complaint that was filed, and have also heard the actual flight attendant’s version of what happened, so I wanted to share an update.

Yes, the passenger was a complete jerk

Here’s the exact complaint that the passenger filed:

Every flight I have to listen that emirates is the best company in the world. And since last event I really was thinking this. I’m a platinum member flying almost weekly with you. Doing take off i saw a lady texting on her phone like if it is normal procedure. So when we were landing i took my phone and got a video of her while texting. I can not attach the video here, so I just took screen shot. But In case I can also send you the video. Please do not force me to publish this on youtube, internet or 9crew on facebook. It will be a very bad advertising for you. Just explain me how it is possible the BEST company in the world allows such behave. I’m urgently looking forward to hearing soon from how to compensate the lack of professional service, lack of safety, lack of everything…I’m disgusted, no other words. Hope the highest ranked manager will contact me as soon as possible, before i will put this video on youtube and 9crew. Thank you

Yes, this guy sounds like a jerk, which doesn’t come as a surprise. It’s one thing to report something like this because you want the airline to improve, but all he is concerned about is “hearing soon from how to compensate the lack of professional service, lack of safety, lack of everything.”

No, the flight attendant wasn’t fired

Here’s a slightly important detail that the YouTuber should have probably looked into — the flight attendant wasn’t actually fired for this, as I speculated from the beginning. Here’s what I’ve been able to figure out:

  • This involved a February 2018 flight, so this is an old story
  • The flight attendant had been at Emirates for six years, and said she had a “perfect file” up until this point
  • She was called into the office one day and was confronted by her manager, who she says “made her feel like s*it” and treated her “like she killed someone”
  • For this incident she received a “final warning”
  • The flight attendant says she lost all respect for the company at that point, and she couldn’t continue to work and be nice to passengers, so she decided to resign
  • She now works at another airline where she “gets treated like a person and not like a number,” and now she “finally understands how a good company should treat you”
  • She shared the details of this incident with other flight attendants because “he is still flying with Emirates and is maybe continuing to report ex colleagues”

Bottom line

None of this comes as much of a surprise. Yep, the passenger who demanded compensation because a flight attendant used her phone is a jerk. No, the flight attendant wasn’t actually fired because of this incident, but rather resigned.

As I said in my last post, I found the YouTube video to be rather inappropriate even if all the details were true — she essentially wanted to get the passenger fired from his company because he got a flight attendant fired from Emirates… only he didn’t.

That doesn’t make the guy any less of a jerk, but…

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