That is a click-bait headline. We hadn’t taken off yet, so we weren’t actually in the sky. And it didn’t turn into a racial incident, although I suspect it was intended to be such.
My wife and I have just spent a couple of days in Washington, mainly to attend the Encounter Books annual gala, which was a terrific event. This afternoon, we were scheduled to fly back to Minnesota from Reagan National.
Everything was fine, until a guy boarded early with those needing special assistance, although he walked down the jetway without difficulty. He sat down in seat 2C, in first class, and was there when the rest of us boarded. His ticket, however, was for seat 18C, and another passenger who had paid for seat 2C was standing by. This led to an increasingly bizarre incident, as the guy refused to vacate the seat he had improperly seized. He was sitting directly behind my wife:
The Delta flight crew was incredibly nice to this guy. It wasn’t a language issue; his English was perfectly adequate to the occasion. The crew spent a solid half-hour trying to persuade this guy to move to his own seat. He steadfastly refused: the crown on his head was appropriate. He thought he was special.
It turned out that the guy was a scammer. At one point, a man came up from coach and knelt next to him. He said that he had been on the same flight with the guy wearing the crown from Minneapolis to Washington, and the guy did the same thing–claimed a first class seat that belonged to someone else. So he was a repeat offender.
A Delta flight attendant talked with the interloper, repeatedly taking the blame for what happened, because she led him to the wrong seat. But it turned out that the scammer had altered his boarding pass to read “2C” instead of “18C.”
This went on for what seemed like forever. I couldn’t believe the forbearance with which the crew treated this jerk. As has happened once or twice before, my wife restrained me from getting actively involved. Finally, the crew called the airport police. When they arrived, the same drama was re-enacted. They spent another half-hour trying to persuade the fraudster to go to his own seat. But he was adamant about staying put in first class.
Finally, they started to de-plane the passengers. This apparently is the standard protocol. They get everyone off the plane, and then they forcibly remove the noncomplying passenger. I surmise that they do this to avoid passengers filming videos that can be distorted into racial incidents. I surmise further that this is exactly what the fraudster in the row behind us had in mind.
Finally they led the interloper off the airplane:
Police officers then handcuffed him, put him in a wheelchair and led him away. Numerous passengers complimented the Delta crew on their professional handling of the incident, and offered themselves as witnesses if any issue should arise. There was no division of opinion among the 100+ passengers who were delayed by more than an hour on account of the egomaniacal behavior of the guy with the crown. I should add that he also sported an “I voted” sticker. One shudders to think whom he voted for.
Where would a black guy from Minnesota get the idea that scamming the system, and playing the race card, is likely to work? Gosh, let me think…Somali immigrants in Minnesota have stolen an astonishing amount of money from taxpayers, amounting to billions of dollars. This guy was likely a Somali immigrant, but if not, he certainly was aware of that history. Steal money, then play the race card if anyone objects–that formula has worked very well in Minnesota. Today, more than 100 passengers were delayed by over an hour by a scammer who thought that he is some kind of king, and the rest of us are pathetic peons. Was he wrong?
